Goldman Sachs pauses efforts to acquire new credit card programs - report
Michael M. Santiago

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has put on hold its push to acquire new credit card programs, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, a move that comes after the bank reportedly abandoned its plan to develop a Goldman Sachs-branded credit card for retail consumers.
The Wall Street stalwart recently concluded advanced talks to start a co-branded card for T-Mobile USA (NASDAQ:TMUS), largely because of concerns about reward costs and expenses, the WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter. It also recently stopped pitching to Hawaiian Airlines (NASDAQ:HA) to manage its credit-card program, the newspaper said.
The more cautious approach to consumer-facing businesses comes soon after Goldman (GS) CEO David Solomon admitted the investment banking firm probably pushed into consumer businesses more quickly than it should have. By contrast, in 2018, Solomon, then GS president, envisioned its Marcus consumer digital bank as a "very big, very profitable" business.
A company spokesperson declined to comment. (Updated at 2:26 PM ET)
Goldman (GS) entered the retail credit card business when it won the account for the Apple Card (AAPL) in 2019. In 2020, it won out over Barclays for the General Motors (GM) credit card program.