Apple ends Apple Card deal with Goldman Sachs, Wall Street Journal reports

The agreement between Apple and Goldman Sachs to provide a savings account with the Apple Card was a big shake-up in the financial technology sector. No other technology has penetrated as deeply into a sector with strong barriers to entry, and despite initial numbers and enthusiasm from many users where it is available, it appears the honeymoon between both companies is over.

According to Reuters, Apple wants to terminate the agreement between both companies in order to possibly find another partner who take care of the financial part of the Apple card. According to him WSJApple sent the financial institution an offer to terminate the agreement within a period of 12 to 15 months.

However, neither Apple nor Goldman have confirmed any of these rumors. asked ReutersApple limited itself to a statement in which it claims that both companies “focus on delivering incredible experiences to our clients to help them lead healthier financial lives“.”“The award-winning Apple Card has been very well received by consumers, and we will continue to innovate and offer them better tools and services.”, the statement continues. For its part, Goldman made no comments on this matter.

The agreement between Apple and Goldman, which was recently extended until 2029.

However, even if the termination of the agreement is confirmed, reasons are not clear. First, the agreement was extended a year ago until 2029, for another six years, so it appears that both companies were on the same page when it was extended.

In addition, Apple relatively recently launched its own buy now, pay later in the USA through Mastercard installments. A program where Goldman was the payment data issuer for Mastercard, so there was pretty good harmony between both companies.

Therefore, the reasons why Apple (or Goldman) want to terminate the agreement are unknown. Perhaps current interest ratesor a possible increase in consumer debt (and associated costs) would call long-term viability into question given the volume of customers Apple serves, but this is unlikely.

One thing is clear: Goldman is gradually scaling back its ambitious plan to expand into commercial banking, which is much more expensive than its core core business. In addition, according to reports CNBChas been embroiled in periodic skirmishes with regulators over How do you deal with chargebacks and billing errors?and for alleged gender discrimination in determining credit limits, which became public in 2019.