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Goldman Offering Marcus to UK Staff Before Bigger Rollout

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The Goldman Sachs Group (GS - Free Report) is rolling out its digital consumer lending platform — Marcus — to nearly 6000 employees in the U.K., before making the service available to public at large.

The bank is currently providing a higher interest savings rate compared to other savings account available in the U.K. However, in an internal memo given to the employees, the company mentioned that the current rate offered might change in the future on account of market conditions.

"The launch of Marcus by Goldman in the United Kingdom represents an important milestone in the growth of Goldman Sachs' consumer business as well as continued diversification of the firm's funding," the bank said to its employees, per an article by CNN.

This launch would mark the brand’s first expansion beyond the United States, placing it among other small digital only banks in the U.K. such as Starling Bank and Monzo.

Launched in October 2016, Marcus by Goldman, has delivered promising results so far. The platform exceeded the bank’s expectation of lending about $2 billion in loans by year-end 2017. Also, it had more than 350,000 customers at the time.

With digitization gaining speed, the banks have been investing heavily on technology in order to maintain their market share. Recently, another major Wall Street firm, JPMorgan (JPM - Free Report) was in news with plans to provide free trades to its mobile banking app users. Also, clients will be able to access the company’s stock research at no cost. (Read more: JPMorgan to Increase Competition by Offering Free Trades)

Since, Goldman enjoys strong market share in the United States, initiatives to expand globally look encouraging. Also, its performance remains solid due to its strong investment banking operations.

Shares of Goldman have lost 7.3% so far this year compared with 3.1% decline witnessed by the industry it belongs to.

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

A couple of other top-ranked stocks in the same space are M&T Bank Corporation (MTB - Free Report) and Northern Trust Corporation (NTRS - Free Report) , carrying a Zacks Rank #2.

M&T Bank’s current-year earnings estimates have been revised 2.4% upward over the last 60 days. Further, its shares have rallied 14.8% in a year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Northern Trust has been revised nearly 3% upward for the current year over the last 60 days. Its share price has witnessed a 19.6% increase over the past year.

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