Goldman Sachs launches new online retail bank offering 1.5% interest on savings

Goldman Sachs has launched its online retail bank, Marcus, for UK customers, with a savings account that offers interest of 1.5 per cent.

The offered rate is around three times better than the average rate among existing accounts available to savers.

The banking giant said the account is “transparent, secure, and easy to use”. It launched for Goldman Sachs employees in August, and is now available to UK residents over the age of 18. Savers can deposit from £1 to £250,000.

Des McDaid, managing director at Marcus by Goldman Sachs said: “Over the last decade savers have been on the wrong end of low interest rates. We’ve spoken in-depth to people across the country and there is a real disillusionment about savings – while most UK adults are diligently trying to save every month, some do not even have a savings account, with low interest rates and complexity being put to blame.

“We want to reverse the trend – literally putting the interest back into savings and make saving worthwhile again.”

Mr McDaid added: “We’ve made the Marcus Online Savings Account as easy as possible to open and manage online, and with our aim to offer a consistently competitive interest rate, we hope our customers will see the benefits – and how, over time, this can add up to help them get to their saving goals that bit quicker.”

Goldman Sachs hired 150 extra staff this year ahead of the launch of Marcus.

Shakila Hashmi, head of money at Compare the Market, said: “Goldman Sachs’ entrance into the mainstream of retail banking should be good news for savers. The rate offered on its first UK savings account is around three times more generous than the average savings accounts from the major players. As such, we would expect a high degree of interest in switches to the Marcus account in the coming weeks.

“Our hope is that this is a catalyst for other banks to offer better rates to their customers. The effect it will have on competition is not simply that of another new player coming into the market and offering an attractive rate; Goldman Sachs is a well-known name, albeit an unlikely one in the retail banking space. Its arrival in this market is highly visible and, essentially, throws down the gauntlet to the rest of the industry.”