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Goldman (GS) to Launch Marcus App, Robo-Advisory for U.K. Clients

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Goldman Sachs (GS - Free Report) will launch an app for the U.K. clients of its digital bank, Marcus, later this month. This was revealed by Des McDaid, the head of Marcus UK, to Reuters.

Specifically, the Marcus app will be rolled out to Apple iOS users by May-end, while Android users will have to wait till June.

Also, by the first quarter of 2022, Goldman plans to provide automated investment management to clients in the country. McDaid said, “We have been delighted with how fast and how quickly we have grown. The challenge now is how do we repeat the formula we used for savings to offer our customers an accessible platform for investing products.”

This will be similar to Marcus Invest that Goldman launched for its U.S. clients this February. McDaid further added, “We are building on the U.S. platform but making the back end and regulatory changes that are required to make it work. Our opportunity is strong, we start with a strong investment base of existing savers looking for an opportunity to do more with their money.”

At present, Marcus UK, launched in 2018, has approximately $30 billion in deposits. This accounts for nearly 30% of total Marcus’ deposits.

More importantly, Goldman is shifting focus of Marcus UK to wealth management business with an aim to stay within the country’s ring-fencing rules, which require retail deposits aggregating more than £25 billion ($35 billion) to be ring-fenced. This would mean that Marcus UK will have to become a separate entity and limit the amount of capital it can share with Goldman’s other business in the U.K.

Goldman had launched Marcus in 2016 in the United States to focus on less capital markets dependent businesses and diversify revenues.

For Goldman, it will be a tough competition in the digital banking space in the U.K. Several local FinTech players and large traditional banks like HSBC Holdings (HSBC - Free Report) and Barclays (BCS - Free Report) are looking to expand digital offerings. Further, JPMorgan (JPM - Free Report) is planning to launch a digital retail bank in the U.K. in the coming months.

Despite these hurdles, Goldman is expected to continue with its efforts toward digitizing operations. These, along with several other efforts, have stabilized the company’s earnings. Moreover, it is likely to keep to benefiting from its exposure to the fast-growing ETF market.

So far this year, shares of Goldman have rallied 38.2%, outperforming 32.3% growth recorded by the industry.



Currently, Goldman Sachs carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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