Goldman Sachs is looking to expand its retail banking offerings to the U.K., and aims to start an online deposit business around the middle of 2018, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The move is planned as an expansion of the bank’s Marcus by Goldman Sachs brand, a digital consumer-lending platform that it launched last October, its head of strategy Stephen Scherr said, according to the report.

It is also open to buying books of deposits if the opportunity arises, the report said.

Over time, the New York-based investment bank could look to add a consumer-lending arm in the U.K., Scherr added, according to the report.

Goldman Sach’s push into retail banking comes as some of its traditional business lines are hampered by additional rules on risk-taking, according to the FT report. Its core debt-trading unit has had two lackluster quarters in a row, while the equity business has been slow to adapt to the rise of quantitative, computer-driven trading, the report said.

Read the full Financial Times report here.

Source: cnbc
From Wall Street to Main Street: Goldman reportedly eyes UK to deepen its push into retail banking