Goldman Sachs is strengthening its online bank Marcus in Great Britain. The new Swiss head Dominique Wohnlich would welcome a launch in Switzerland.
Marcus, the U.S. investment bank’s three-year-old online retail lender, hoovered up $60 billion in deposits from 5 million clients. Market watchers have been eyeing whether Goldman will offer Marcus in Europe since a British launch 16 months ago.
The bank’s new head of Switzerland hinted that may happen soon: «We’re not in Switzerland yet, but I hope we will be,» Dominique Wohnlich, Swiss CEO said at a banking conference this week. In the U.S., Goldman parlays Marcus' retail deposits into a source of low-cost funding for its other businesses. A spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs said the bank doesn't have specific plans for a continental European rollout.
Retail vs Super-Rich
Goldman is pouring resources into its wealth management business in the alpine nation – and has expressed little interest in retail banking, which is dominated by UBS, Credit Suisse, and a handful of local lenders such as cantonal banks.
«We’re already in Britain, and in Europe, there are also topics, I hope to be able to tell you more over the course of this year,» Wohnlich said.
U.S. Scale-Up
The European expansion wouldn't be a surprise – but the Swiss one is counterintuitive. In the U.S., Goldman is quietly scaling Marcus up from a purely retail lender into a «spend, borrow, save» one: this year, the online bank will begin offering investment services for so-called mass affluent clients, or those with $100,000 to $1 million in assets.
Specifically, Goldman is reported to be prepping robo adviser-based services for the less-wealthy. The U.S. bank has quietly restocked private bankers in Zurich and in Geneva. Goldman is also readying a mortgage securitization push in Switzerland, as finews.com reported six months ago.
Tough Swiss Terms
A Swiss bid with Marcus comes against the backdrop of neo and challenger-style banks like N26 as well as Revolut, reportedly valued at $5 billion. Local lenders have attempted to launch similar services: start-up Neon works with regional lender Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, for example.
Basler Kantonalbank has sent digital solution Zak into the running; fintech start-up Yapeal is expected to launch shortly. Credit Suisse is pouring hundreds of millions into a so-called direct banking push which is meant to make the Swiss bank competitive with digital upstarts.
Whether Marcus can compete – or even wants to – with domestic start-ups is unclear. The U.S. powerhouse will struggle with the same problem as domestic lenders: no one is earning money in the Swiss market thus far.
