Goldman Sachs executive who spearheaded consumer banking launch is set to leave

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The head of Goldman Sachs, who spearheaded his push into consumer banking, leaves, 10 months after having entrusted the day-to-day management of the company.

Harit Talwar will be leaving Goldman in October. The departure crystallizes a transition to a new phase of leadership in its consumer business, one of Wall Street’s biggest investment banking initiatives in decades.

Talwar, the former head of US cards at Discover, joined Goldman in 2015 as the first employee of what would become Marcus, his new consumer loan business. The goal was to find new sources of income for depositors and retail bank borrowers, diversifying from Goldman’s traditional customer base of large institutions and wealthy individuals.

“We decided to build a fintech within a 150-year-old investment bank. There were a lot of skeptics, some frankly inside the company and a lot of others outside, as to whether this could be done, ”Talwar told the Financial Times.

Talwar led the launch of Marcus, named after bank founder Marcus Goldman. Goldman has also partnered with other companies such as Apple to offer financial products, including credit cards.

Marcus now has more than 2,000 employees, 8 million customers, $ 100 billion in deposits and nearly $ 10 billion in loans and card balances.

A report released this month by Autonomous Research put the value of Goldman’s Marcus business at between $ 7 billion and $ 11 billion. Goldman’s total market capitalization is approximately $ 130 billion.

Autonomous rated Marcus as the second largest “neobank,” a digital banking provider, by revenue, behind Square’s Cash app.

JPMorgan Chase, America’s largest bank with an extensive physical branch network, had just over $ 1 billion in deposits in its personal and community banking unit at the end of the second quarter.

“If you look at what we’ve accomplished over the past five years, be it in terms of the size of the deposits, the range of products, the range of partnerships, it’s unheard of. This is, in our minds, one of the best fintech stories in the industry, ”said Talwar.

Goldman’s consumer business has seen changes at the top. In early 2021, Talwar handed day-to-day management over to his longtime deputy, Omer Ismail, who quickly left Goldman for Walmart. Talwar had remained at Goldman as president of the consumer division and partner of the bank.

The mainstream business is now led by Peeyush Nahar, who joined Goldman earlier this year after working at Uber and Amazon.

As a sign of Goldman’s ambitions to further develop its consumer business, the bank last week announced a $ 2.2 billion deal to buy online loan provider GreenSky.

“We have savings, loans, investments, and we are about to initiate monitoring. We’re coming to a point where we can help someone holistically manage their financial life, ”Stephanie Cohen, Global Co-Head of Consumer and Wealth Management at Goldman, told the Financial Times.

Talwar is the latest senior executive to leave Goldman, with Stephen Scherr, the bank’s chief financial officer, saying last week he would leave after 28 years.