Goldman Sachs Adds Personal Finance Tools to Marcus

Need to Know

• Marcus Insights gives Marcus app customers a top-down view of all of their financial accounts, even at multiple institutions, and offers spending and budgeting insights.
• Goldman is priming itself to better compete with mobile consumer banks, and with the digital offerings from direct megabanking competitors such as JP Morgan Chase.
• Goldman is planning to release a personal chequing account within Marcus in the coming year.

Analysis

Goldman Sachs, the financial institution best known for its investment and commercial banking services, is continuing its foray into consumer banking with a new personal finance tool update to its Marcus app.

The tool, called Marcus Insights, is now available to those who have a loan or deposit account with Goldman. Marcus Insights allows those consumers to view multiple accounts at different institutions all in one place, and provides insights, such as spending history and budget forecasting, in the same spot.

According to Goldman partner and head of product Adam Dell, the launch of Marcus Insights is meant to prime consumers to better trust Goldman with their personal finances, as Goldman is planning to launch a personal chequing account at some point in 2021.

“We want to make understanding your financial health approachable and easy,” Dell said. “What did you spend this month, and where did you spend it, and how much do you have left? And is there any extra that you could set aside for an emergency fund, or just put in a high-yield savings account?”

Dell was instrumental in the launch of Marcus Insights: he joined Goldman in after fintech startup Clarity Money to the bank for $100 million. Many of the learnings gleaned from Clarity, which is an AI-powered budgeting tool (and is still owned by Goldman) were applied to the development of Marcus Insights.

Goldman launched Marcus earlier this year as a way to allow customers to check balances and schedule payments. In addition to the upcoming chequing account, Goldman also plans to add an investing service to Marcus in 2021. The move towards more consumer-focussed tools and accounts via an app is new for the investment bank, but places it in league with rising mobile banks such as Chime, Square and Cash App, which are rising in popularity due to distancing protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Goldman is also keeping pace with some of its more direct competitors, such as JPMorgan Chase, which has plans to launch a digital consumer banking option in the UK in 2021.

Goldman has been gradually bolstering Marcus since its initial launch, partnering with JetBlue to offer a buy now, pay later financing option on plane tickets purchased with MarcusPay, its installment loan program. Marcus also teamed up with Amazon to offer small business owners credit lines of up to $1-million in June of this year.

Marcus Insights will be available to anyone who downloads the Marcus app, which is free, by the end of the year.