Goldman Plans to Cut Consumer Banking Staff and Marcus Personal Loans

Goldman CFO Stephen Scherr to Retire

Goldman Sachs reportedly plans to make cutbacks in its retail banking business. 

The Financial Times reported Monday (Dec. 12) that the firm is considering cutting hundreds of jobs from the consumer business as well as stopping its offering of personal loans through its retail banking platform, Marcus. 

The job cuts would be in addition to Goldman Sachs’ annual paring of employees who underperform, the report said, adding that the firm employs 49,000 people worldwide. 

Personal loans — which are also said to be getting cut back — were launched in 2016 as one of Goldman Sachs’ first consumer products, per the report. 

These moves come as the firm — like others on Wall Street — has seen investment activity plummet, the report said. 

CEO David Solomon said last week at an industry conference that Goldman Sachs had “set in motion certain expense mitigation plans, but it will take some time to realize the benefits,” per the report. 

A Goldman Sachs spokesperson told PYMNTS the firm has no comment on the report. 

As PYMNTS reported Oct. 18, Marcus will be folded into the company’s asset and wealth management unit. Separately, a new division will contain transaction banking and the credit cards launched with Apple and General Motors. 

That reorganization was reported Oct. 17, as the company seeks to revamp its organization into three divisions — investment banking and trading, asset and wealth management, and platform solutions — with Marcus being folded into the wealth unit. 

Solomon said at the time during a conference call with analysts that Goldman Sachs’ renewed direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategy means that “we will focus on existing deposit customers and consumers that the bank already has access to through channels like workplace and personal wealth, rather than seeking to acquire customers on a mass scale.” 

The firm had been pouring time and money into its retail banking efforts and ambitions, PYMNTS reported Oct. 10 when the reorganization was still only a rumor. While Marcus had something more than $100 billion in deposits toward the end of last year, further details have been a bit nebulous. 

But there are some signs that maintaining a competitive advantage — much less extending that advantage — may be an onerous task in the inflationary environment of 2022.