Goldman Sachs is to launch a robo advice app for UK users of its digital bank Marcus and plans to offer automated investment management by the first quarter of next year.
The UK accounts for 30% of Marcus’s deposits globally and is a key market for the digital bank, head of Marcus UK Des McDaid told newswire Reuters.
Marcus is “pivoting more into an investment and wealth provider rather than a full service digital bank,” he told the newswire.
According to the newswire, Goldman is shifting the focus of Marcus UK to wealth management in order to stay within UK banking rules demanding retail deposits of over £25bn are ring-fenced. Any ring-fencing would require Marcus UK to become a separate legal entity and would restrict how much capital could be shared with other Goldman businesses.
The bank has already launched Marcus Invest in the US, a robo-adviser that allocates customer funds across managed portfolios. Marcus is in the process of adapting this US product for the UK market.