Goldman Sachs is reportedly in talks to offload its Apple credit card and high-yield savings account products to American Express, a source told CNBC.
The talks come amid a broader retreat by Goldman from its largely failed banking initiatives, for which CEO David Solomon has taken a great deal of heat. Last week, CNBC reported that the Wall Street giant is preparing to take a huge write-down on its 2021 acquisition of fintech lender GreenSky.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the Goldman talks with American Express. The newspaper said there’s no assurance of a deal, nor is an agreement close.
It would mark an abrupt reversal for the two corporate giants. In October, the Journal reported Goldman and Apple renewed their partnership through to 2029. And in April, Goldman Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman touted a deepening of the partnership.
Coleman said at the time that “This week, we announced the launch of a savings account for Apple Card users. We are excited to deepen our partnership with Apple through this additional offering and to introduce another source of deposit funding for the firm.”
During Apple’s last conference call, Apple’s CEO noted that “In March, we also launched Apple Pay Later designed with users privacy and financial health in mind. Apple Pay Later allows users to split purchases into multiple payments with no interest or fees. And last month, we introduced Apple Card Savings Accounts to give users even more value out of their daily cash Apple Card Benefit.” Everything was positive on this front.
If Goldman Sachs does offload Apple Card and related saving products, does this reflect badly on Apple for not delivering the base that Goldman Sachs was hoping for at this point in time – or is this potential disaster squarely on Goldman? Until a final deal is announced, we won’t know the reasoning behind this apparent move and Apple legal will likely ensure that all details of any such deal be suppressed – in the form of a gag order.
Source: patentlyapple.com
