NEW YORK - Goldman Sachs Group Inc's credit card deal with Apple Inc is the latest move by the Wall Street investment bank to court mass-market consumers, potentially connecting Goldman with hundreds of millions of iPhone users.
"As this kind of benign credit environment continues retailers have a greater leverage than they had a few years ago," said a person involved in similar credit card deals. Solomon has said the consumer business is a critical part of the bank's strategy to grow revenues and cut costs, as revenue shrinks in traditional areas of strength for Goldman like bond trading.
While the amount of loans is small compared to the bank's overall balance sheet, Hawken said investors would likely prefer Goldman stick to using its consumer business to add deposits, as opposed to personal loans or credit card debt.The Apple Card's wide interest rate range indicates that some customers might have lower credit scores, said Josh Siegel, chief executive of StoneCastle Financial Corp. However, the bank may not necessarily keep that risk on its books.
The same person said that the stated range of possible interest rates on unpaid balances was too wide to clearly show how much credit risk Goldman expects to take.