This text initially appeared on Enterprise Insider.
A brand new report from The Wall Road Journal sheds additional mild on how Goldman insiders really feel in regards to the financial institution’s consumer-lending efforts with Apple.
One quote, particularly, stands out.
“We should always have by no means completed this f—ing factor,” an unnamed Goldman companion, talking in regards to the financial institution’s April financial savings accounts launch with Apple, reportedly advised others on the financial institution.
Collectively, Apple’s partnership with Goldman has yielded a number of client providers, together with an Apple bank card, the aforementioned Apple financial savings account, and a buy-now,pay-later service that lets clients unfold out funds on bigger purchases.
However whereas Apple and Goldman have publicly touted the success of the assorted providers — Apple introduced earlier this yr that customers had deposited greater than $10 billion into financial savings accounts — the Journal’s newest report suggests Goldman could also be in search of the exit because it seeks to attenuate its consumer-lending footprint.
Different Goldman insiders apparently agree with the unnamed companion’s feeling that the partnership was a mistake, the Journal reported.
This additionally is not the primary rumbling of unrest within the partnership. The Journal reported in July that Goldman was contemplating offloading its Apple partnership, probably to American Specific. However the firms have not spoken publicly of any adjustments. That very same month, Goldman CEO David Solomon advised buyers and analysts in the course of the financial institution’s second-quarter earnings name that the financial institution was making progress on its bank card partnerships, which additionally embrace a bank card with Common Motors, launched in 2020.
“We have additionally stated very clearly that our bank card partnerships are long-term partnerships…They undoubtedly can function higher,” Solomon stated on the decision. “We have been working laborious to enhance the operation of them … we’re making good progress on that. And we’re working with Apple and likewise with GM to try this.”
Apple didn’t reply to Insider’s request for remark forward of publication. A Goldman spokesperson declined to touch upon the Journal’s report.
However Goldman confronted mounting losses in its client banking enterprise in the course of the pandemic, Insider’s Dakin Campbell reported in August 2022. In October 2022, Solomon stated that Goldman’s take care of Apple had been prolonged till 2029.
In the meantime, stress on Solomon has been rising.
Final quarter, Goldman reported its worst earnings in years. In accordance with Solomon, the gloomy numbers have been a part of the financial institution’s “journey” to chart a brand new path with its evolving technique.
Goldman studies its third-quarter earnings Tuesday.
