Apple Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are preparing to launch a new joint credit card, a change that will deepen the technology giant's momentum in its clients' portfolios and mark the first incursion of the Wall Street firm into the "plastic" market.
According to two people familiar with the negotiation, Apple and Goldman Sachs have been working for months on a new credit card product that would carry the Apple Pay brand. The informants gave their statement on condition of anonymity because the conversations between the two companies continue.
The product would be Goldman's first credit card offer and could help the bank expand its consumer products. For Apple, the agreement could help it expand its Apple Pay brand, the digital payment service of the technology giant.
The two companies have been negotiating for several months and have not agreed on all the details, according to one of the informants. The association was reported last Thursday by The Wall Street Journal.
Andrew Williams, spokesman for Goldman Sachs, declined to comment and Christine Monaghan, an Apple spokeswoman, also declined to comment.
The new card would be tailored to the consumer products that Goldman recently began offering, such as a savings account and a series of personal loans through its consumer banking service, Marcus. Goldman expects to use these new products to reduce its dependence on commercial revenues in the coming years.
This launch could help attract iPhone customers to Goldman, a group that represents a much broader range of consumers than banks now offer, and eventually offer them other services that the bank can provide.
"This seems to make sense," said Devin Ryan, analyst at JMP Securities. "It's just one piece of a much bigger puzzle that is forming, which is Goldman Sachs' consumer finance business."
Part of the recent group of clients that have joined Goldman have focused on interest in credit cards. In December, the bank hired a credit card company called Final, and later, in April, it bought a mobile application, Clarity Money, that helps users find the best credit card offers. The application has already been downloaded a million times.