Banking Without the Bank
A TV ad aims to set the digital bank Marcus apart from traditional banks.
“Banks have free pens,” says Rosamund Pike, an award-winning British actress. “But Marcus by Goldman Sachs has a high-yield savings account, with a rate that can earn you four times the national average. But then again … [she clicks the pen twice] … free pen.”
Currently, Marcus pays a 0.5% interest rate to savers, which is more than the 0.06% paid by the average bank, according to Bankrate. The digital-only unit of Goldman Sachs Group offers a limited menu of financial services: savings accounts, credit cards, personal loans and investment accounts.
Goldman Sachs has historically been an investment bank; it became a bank holding company in 2008, following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings. At $1.5 trillion in assets, it is one of the largest financial institutions in the U.S. and operates a commercial bank, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, in addition to Marcus. For all intents and purposes, Goldman Sachs is a bank.
So, when is a bank not a bank? As Sam Kilmer of Cornerstone Advisors points out, consumers don’t really care.
“It matters less what a bank is and more that most banks have branch networks (with pens) hanging like a cost anchor around their necks while Marcus/Goldman does not,” he told me last week on Twitter. “Marcus has lower costs and is willing to pay more. Classic differentiation.”
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