Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • November 2019 (Revised December 2019)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Marcus by Goldman Sachs

By: Rory McDonald, Samir Junnarkar and David Lane
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:21
ShareBar

Abstract

Five years on from the 2008 financial crisis, Goldman Sachs remained wounded. Revenues at the global investment bank had stagnated below pre-crisis levels, and the firm had yet to rebound from a substantial decline in securities-trading revenues. Marcus by Goldman Sachs was one response—an effort that operated as a start-up but was sponsored by senior Goldman executives—to grow the firm’s revenues by entering consumer banking with digital-only offerings. The move marked a dramatic cultural as well as product shift: the 150-year-old institution historically served only businesses and the wealthiest of individuals. In 2016, Marcus launched unsecured personal loans for the mass market; it rolled out high-yield deposits in 2017 and a credit card in partnership with Apple in 2019. By autumn of that year, Marcus had $5 billion in loans outstanding and $55 billion in deposits. It also faced a dilemma—ceaseless and rapid expansion had strained its people and infrastructure, yet Goldman expected Marcus to generate $1 billion in revenues in 2020. What now was the better bet, to pause to allow performance to catch up with growth or to seize the additional opportunities that beckoned for Marcus to diversify into consumer finance products?

Keywords

Corporate Entrepreneurship; Banks and Banking; Innovation Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Organizational Culture; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom

Citation

McDonald, Rory, Samir Junnarkar, and David Lane. "Marcus by Goldman Sachs." Harvard Business School Case 620-005, November 2019. (Revised December 2019.)
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Rory M. McDonald

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

Related Work

    • February 2020 (Revised November 2020)
    • Faculty Research

    Marcus by Goldman Sachs

    By: Rory McDonald, Anibha Singh and Matt A. Higgins
    • November 2019 (Revised December 2019)
    • Faculty Research

    Marcus by Goldman Sachs

    By: Rory McDonald, Samir Junnarkar and David Lane
Related Work
  • Marcus by Goldman Sachs By: Rory McDonald, Anibha Singh and Matt A. Higgins
  • Marcus by Goldman Sachs By: Rory McDonald, Samir Junnarkar and David Lane
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College