Apple’s partnership with Goldman Sachs is reportedly nearing its end
Apple is reportedly planning to pull the plug on its partnership with Goldman Sachs as the Wall Street bank continues its retreat from retail banking.
Apple reportedly looks to end partnership with Goldman Sachs
The US tech titan has proposed ending its credit card and savings account partnership with the bank within the next 12 to 15 months, according to sources at the Wall Street Journal and CNBC.
The pair first came together back in 2018 to develop and launch the Apple credit card, with the bank providing the banking back-end for the offer. Apple then tapped the partnership again to launch its buy now, pay later (BNPL) offering in March this year, followed by its “high yield” savings account in April, which notably attracted $1 billion in deposits within its first week.
Despite this success, speculation around the future of the partnership has grown as a result of Goldman Sachs’ decision to migrate away from the retail banking market and shift its focus back to its core propositions of trading and investment banking, wealth management, and transaction banking, which was seemingly exacerbated by the $3 billion loss generated by its platform solutions business since 2020.
The bank folded its consumer banking arm Marcus into its asset and wealth management division last year and this year has sold both its personal financial management business and BNPL provider GreenSky. Most recently, Goldman has reportedly proposed offloading its General Motors credit card programme.
David Solomon, CEO and chairman of Goldman Sachs, recently described the “narrowing of our consumer business” as part of “advancing the strategy we laid out for our two core franchises”, namely investment banking and asset management.
This shift fuelled speculation about the future of its partnership with Apple as far back as July, which if actioned, would bring to an end one of the most prominent arrangements between a bank and a technology provider to date.
It’s not yet been fully determined how or when Apple will seek a new financial partner, or how its product plans will be affected by the split.
