Goldman Sachs’ Marcus Loses Product Head

Marcus, the consumer bank operated by Goldman Sachs, has seen its head of product Michael Cerda quit his job.

According to a report in The Financial Times, Cerda was at the company for a little over two years but decided to quit his job after growing tired of commuting from the west coast to New York. Cerda was previously head of media products for Facebook. When he was hired by Goldman Sachs in 2017 to develop products for Marcus, it was seen as a big win for Goldman Sachs, reported The Financial Times. After all, a bank was able to lure a Facebook executive to New York. A person familiar with the situation confirmed to the paper that Cerda left, noting it was due to the pressure of commuting between the Goldman Sachs headquarters in New York and Los Angeles where his family lives.  Goldman Sachs has not named a replacement for Cerda, noted the report.

The departure of Cerda comes just after Apple and Goldman Sachs announced the Apple Card, a new credit card that Apple is launching. It has zero fees and vows to provide lower interest rates than what is available in the market. Customers sign up through their Apple Wallet and get 2 percent cash back on purchases using Apple Pay. Purchases with the physical card get customers one percent cash back.  In a statement to The Financial Times Goldman Sachs said it is always looking for talent and feels “very good” about its ability to attract and retain diverse talent. “The Marcus team and performance is a testimony to that,” the statement read.

Marcus has $45 billion in deposits spanning the U.K., U.S. and Germany and has issued $5 billion in consumer loans. This is since launching in October of 2016. During a conference call to discuss quarterly earnings in January Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer Stephen Scherr said that demand was more than the company had anticipated for Marcus.