Yahoo Finance Goldman Sachs to open first UK office outside London as digital savings bank Marcus takes off
Goldman Sachs is planning to more than double its workforce at fledgling savings bank Marcus in the UK, with the opening of its first office outside London.
The Wall Street bank has taken office space in Milton Keynes for around 150 initial members of staff, although the building could eventually accommodate up to 250 workers.
The recruitment drive comes after a rush of consumers joined Marcus since it launched late last month, with more than 50,000 people signing up for accounts.
Goldman Sachs entered the UK savings market with a table-topping interest rate of 1.5pc, helping drum up interest.
The firm is better known for its investment banking, but has been pushing into retail banking since 2016.
Its retail arm Marcus - named after the bank's founder Marcus Goldman - has already amassed more than $20bn in deposits and lent $3bn to customers in the US.
Goldman hopes its expansion into retail banking will help it diversify its funding sources and drive up overall revenues by $5bn by 2020.
Marcus initially recruited 150 staff in London headed up by former TSB director Des McDaid.
The Milton Keynes office will initially include a customer call centre and will open by the summer of next year.
Marcus has launched into an increasingly crowded market in the UK as there are now several digital-only lenders, including Monzo, Starling Bank and recent German entrant N26, competing for custom.
Savers can put aside anything between £1 and £250,000 with Marcus.
Sarah Card, head of operations for Marcus, said: “Marcus by Goldman Sachs is committed to the UK and we know having a personal, UK-based customer care centre is important to our customers.
“So we’re proud to say that on the back of our successful launch we will have additional space in Milton Keynes from summer 2019 so we can continue to grow.”
