Dive Brief:
- Apple Card holders will soon be able to deposit cash into a high-yield savings account by Goldman Sachs, Apple announced Thursday.
- The fee-free savings account is expected to roll out in the coming months, the technology giant said. Apple said its card users can have their cash automatically deposited into the savings account, which won’t require minimum deposits or minimum balances. Apple did not disclose the annual yield for the savings account.
- The move is the latest evolution in the tech firm’s partnership with Goldman Sachs, and comes amid reports the investment bank is reconfiguring its consumer-focused products.
Dive Insight:
“Savings enables Apple Card users to grow their Daily Cash rewards over time, while also saving for the future,” Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, said in a statement. “Savings delivers even more value to users’ favorite Apple Card benefit — Daily Cash — while offering another easy-to-use tool designed to help users lead healthier financial lives.”
Apple Card users will be able to manage their savings directly in Apple’s wallet app, the company said. Once users set up the savings account, all future cash rewards will be automatically deposited into it.
Users can also choose to continue to have the cash added to an Apple Cash card in the wallet app, Apple said.
The move is the logical next step for the Apple-Goldman partnership, said Nikhil Sharma, head of digital wealth at consulting firm Capco, who said the day-to-day banking product complements Apple’s Goldman-powered credit-card offering.
The deal also furthers Goldman’s push to become a one-stop shop, while leveraging its Marcus platform, the consumer-focused digital bank it launched in 2016, he added.
“The benefit to Goldman with this deal is the increase in their customer base and funnel for Marcus and its associated wealth management services,” Sharma said. “Once day-to-day finances are supported appropriately, usually the conversation moves on to longer-term investing.”
Sharma said he wouldn’t be surprised to see investment and financial planning offerings pitched or made available to Apple’s credit card and savings account users.
“To further entice customers, maybe we’ll see special offers on Apple products when opting for Goldman products,” he said.
Apple’s Goldman-backed savings account comes as the investment bank is reportedly scaling back its ambitions for Marcus, amid losses and regulator scrutiny.
The investment bank plans to gear Marcus checking accounts toward select wealthy clients and employees at corporate partners, Bloomberg reported this week, citing unnamed sources.
The move to focus on corporate and elite clients would be a significant pivot from the platform’s original mass retail market target and could position Goldman for a potential reorganization of its business lines, its third in four years, the wire service reported.
Meanwhile, Goldman’s consumer products are under regulatory scrutiny from the Federal Reserve and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The Fed is investigating losses in the bank’s Marcus unit, according to Bloomberg, and the CFPB is looking into the bank’s credit card account management practices.
