Goldman Sachs reported to be in talks to launch retail bank in Ireland
Wall Street banking giant Goldman Sachs's is considering launching its online retail bank Marcus in the Irish market in an effort to get access to billions of euros of deposits from domestic households, according to a report.
Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday that the group has held preliminary talks with regulators in recent months on a potential widening of the Marcus brand into the Republic, which continues to be dominated by the three domestic banks.
That is even as Spanish bank Bankinter's Avant Money has become a bank branch of its parent in recent months, Revolut has set its sights on entering the Irish mortgage market this year, and nonbank lenders have become more active in the home loans market in the past year.
'While Marcus may be extremely well resourced, international banks Revolut, N26 and Bunq and platforms such as Raisin and Trade Republic have been active in Ireland offering deposits to Irish households for some time, only about 2 per cent of household deposits are held outside of the three domestically owned banks,' said Diarmaid Sheridan, an analyst with Davy.
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The report cited Goldman Sachs as saying that Marcus remains focused on its US and UK markets, though it is exploring options for future growth areas. Germany has also been mentioned as the potential next market for the brand.
Goldman launched Marcus in the US in 2016 as part of a push into consumer banking. It subsequently started operations in the UK in 2018.
The growing interest of overseas banks in the Irish market follows a period of heightened profitability on the back of elevated interest rates and the return of the sector to loan growth in an expanding economy after years of contraction.
A host of overseas lenders, including Lloyds Banking Group, Danske Bank, retreated from Irish retail banking in the wake of the financial crash. The final two long-standing overseas banks in the market, Ulster Bank and KBC Bank Ireland, decided four years ago to wind down gradually.
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