Goldman Sachs is going back to its roots to attract new borrowers.
The investment bank named its soon-to-launch online consumer lending venture ‘Marcus’ after its German founder, and not ‘Mosaic’, as reported earlier. Goldman will go live with its personal loan product in the fall, aimed at borrowers with high credit scores looking to consolidate debt.
Goldman has been laying the groundwork for Marcus since the beginning of the year. The bank made several key hires for the project including former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau attorney, Mitch Hochberg who was roped in to head compliance for the unit. The venture will be lead by Harit Talwar, former head of card services at Discover Financial and executives from American Express and Lending Club.
As deBanked commented earlier, Goldman’s foray in the crowded online lending universe could be too little, too late with a me-too product. It’s quickly-processed consumer loans might have to compete not only with incumbents like Lending Club, Prosper Loans and Avant but also with other bigger banks like Bank of America and Chase.
Srividya Kalyanaraman, “Goldman’s Online Lending Venture is Almost Here and It’s Called ‘Marcus’” DeBanked, 22 August 2016. Accessed via: http://debanked.com/2016/