Goldman Sachs plans Apple Pay Credit Card

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is planning to enter the consumer credit-card market in a big way with an Apple Pay branded credit card.

The Apple Pay product will be Goldman Sachs’ first credit card, The New York Times reported. The investment bank has been working with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) on the credit card for several months.

Many details of the projects are far from settled but the credit card will be part of Marcus. Marcus is the artificial intelligence (AI) powered consumer banking system that Goldman Sachs has been developing for some time. Marcus is currently offering no-fee personal loans and high-yield online savings accounts.

Goldman Sachs’ hope is to reach affluent iPhone users through Apple Pay. The Goldman Sachs card would be the first credit product developed for Apple Pay. It would serve as a template for a similar solution for Google Pay.

Is the Financial App Store coming?

Offering credit would also encourage the use of Apple Pay and might convince large American retailers like Walmart (NYSE: WMT), Kroger (NYSE: KR) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) to start accepting the digital wallet. Another challenge Goldman Sachs can help Apple with is weaning affluent Americans off of credit cards.

An interesting goal for Apple would be the creation of a “financial App store” where a wide variety of solutions like Marcus would be available to consumers. Future solutions might include checking accounts, loans, insurance, investments, annuities, remittances, wire transfers, and investment advice from Goldman Sachs.

An obvious product to offer through the financial App Store would be cryptocurrency solutions like BABB, Ripple, and Bancor. BABB (BABB) is planning to offer banking on the blockchain and central bank issued cryptocurrencies. Ripple (XRP) will experiment with a payment app integrated with Japanese banks later this year. The Bancor Network (BNT) is building a liquidity network which makes converting one cryptocurrency to another easy.

Both Apple and Goldman Sachs might be able to tap a vast market here. There is no word on when the Goldman Sachs Apple Pay Card will appear or what its name will be.

Also left unsaid was whether the card will be MasterCard (NYSE: MA), American Express (NYSE: AXP), or Visa (NYSE: V). Goldman Sachs and Apple will need to team with one of those credit card processors if they want to offer a credit card beyond the United States.

Apple Pay Offering Free Instacart Grocery Delivery

Apple Pay users might get one great perk this week. They will get a free Instacart delivery of orders of $35 or more if they order before Wednesday, May 23, 2018. This is the second time that deal will be offered.

Users might be able to take advantage of the free delivery at any participating store including the Kroger supermarkets. To take advantage of the deal, users will have to visit Instacart’s website or download its iOS App, 9to5 Apple reported.

It looks as if Apple is finally getting serious about making Apple Pay consumer friendly. One has to wonder if this means Apple will soon be adding Quick Read (QR) Code connectivity so it will be accepted at more stores.