Goldman Sachs Plans to Shed GM Card

Goldman Sachs is reportedly hoping to offload its General Motors (GM) credit card program.

The move, as reported Tuesday (Nov. 7) by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), marks the latest in a series of shifts away from consumer lending by the banking giant.

Sources familiar with the matter tell the WSJ that Goldman told employees in its Platform Solutions operations working on the card program that the search for a new issuer will commence soon, led by GM. 

A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs declined to comment when reached by PYMNTS.

Goldman purchased the card business from GM in 2020 for around $2.5 billion, outbidding Barclays as the two companies — as noted here at the time — chased the vision of the car as a hub for mobile eCommerce.

But Tuesday’s WSJ report says those ambitions have yet to bear fruit, and Goldman employees were apparently frustrated by what they viewed as a lack of effort among car dealers to promote the card to vehicle buyers.

Goldman also has a separate, larger card program with Apple. However, this summer brought the news that the bank has held talks with American Express to take over the Apple program. 

As the WSJ notes, cards are the last major component of Goldman Sachs’ consumer lending operation, which the bank has been scaling back.

Last month, the bank announced the sale of its GreenSky consumer finance platform and the loans associated with it to a group of buyers led by global investment firm Sixth Street.

Goldman Sachs put GreenSky up for sale in June, looking for strategic alternatives for this FinTech as it pared back its consumer ambitions, PYMNTS reported at the time.

“This transaction demonstrates our continued progress in narrowing the focus of our consumer business,” said David Solomon, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs.

Solomon added that the move reflects Goldman’s strategy of focusing more on its core franchises. He said GreenSky is an attractive business, though the bank wants to concentrate its efforts on its global banking & markets and asset/wealth management operations.

PYMNTS wrote soon after that the sale offered “evidence of just how bumpy a road can be in building out new business lines that promised to digitize and modernize lending and payments.”