Marcus by Goldman Sachs Bank

Serious question - why not? I opened my account and deposited and withdrew a test amount with no drama.

I'm happier with my savings with Marcus than HSBC or TSB at the moment I think...

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-45676458

So there was me thinking I'm opening a savings account with a decent (by today's standards) rate of interest, and now I'm at risk of being attacked by a giant octopus?

They're regulated by the FCA, and I can get my money back when I want. Interest is even paid monthly.

All banks are in it to make money, and none of them give money away. Remember self certification mortgages, PPI misselling and this

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jul/17/h...

Which ethically pure bank do you suggest I use? Co-op?!

This 100%.

I think someone’s losing the plot here.

Taking retail deposits creates a balance sheet liability. They've not given an asset allocation here at all. Also, these are subject to bank levy (.16bps I think); so the exchequer gets a win.

Of course there is an upside for Goldman's, and yep they are going to make money somewhere in the chain - but pretty difficult on retail call accounts. With ring-fencing, its difficult for them to use it to fund the high risk activities of the IB (wholesale funding is optimal for this anyway). I suspect they are going to move some of their Non-IB assets to a UK Co, and fund (partially) from retail deposits (which under liquidity rules are like post BASEL magic beans). Obviously you want to steer well clear of Goldman Sachs at the sharp end of IB or as a market pro' but this looks pretty good for retail punters (under the FCA compo limits you are only loosing 75bps'ish to inflation!).

Banks used to use your savings to help fund there IB operations, the assumption being not everyone would want there savings out at once, that's how savings accounts work you basically lending the money to the bank and they pay you x rate for it and they just assume everyone wont want there cash back at the same time. Ring fencing stopped this but that's not to say they haven't found some way around this.

Both Goldman and Barclays are offering 1.9% in the US. There has been an interest war here recently being driven by Ally who kept increasing their rate. We will see if they push the game further today.

It must be, as there is no marginal holding asset for them that will yield >1.5% plus their cost of operations without some duration risk. I assume this is the beachhead for a push into the lucrative UK consumer credit market. Given ringfencing, as others have said, this is not a funding tool for investment banking activity.

I would not expect the rate to last - the smart money will stay for a year and then look for the best new customer deal somewhere else. They are relying on people being lazy and leaving funds there even when they start to bring rates down.

I’ve set up an account now.

So far so good. I put in £1000, withdrew £999 and paid it back in. All happened quickly so I put the rest that I was keeping in my Tesco Internet Saver in.

Nice, simple website with a higher interest rate. No complaints so far

Eta: before you set it up, be aware that you can't hold any more than £250k in it. The Tesco account is up to £1m, for example

Then I’m not welcome because I certainly didn’t put that much into my Marcus account!

Doesn't look like you can open a joint account - can anyone confirm?