Goldman Shuffles The Marcus Executive Deck

The consumer banking chief who guided Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s five-year effort to serve mainstream households, instead of focusing only on affluent families and giant companies, is planning to step aside.

Bloomberg News reported that sources said Harit Talwar will remain as a Goldman partner for now, and as chairman of the business he previously led. Talwar will be replaced by Omer Ismail, who is expected to be named the global consumer head.

Sources said Talwar, 59, brought in $92 billion of deposits and is credited with teaming up with Apple and Mastercard to launch the Apple Card. That partnership has allowed Goldman to grow its mainstream customers. In addition, Goldman has expanded Marcus, its consumer unit. While the strategy was met with skepticism inside and outside of Goldman, Marcus has advanced with new products and partnerships.

Talwar has been at Goldman since 2015. He had previously led the cards division for Discover Financial Services, and also spent 15 years at Citigroup Inc.

“I’ve known Harit for 24 years as a colleague at Citi, who helped me understand banking when I joined, and as a friend ever since,” Ajay Banga, the chief executive officer of Mastercard Inc., told Bloomberg News. “I am not surprised at the success he had in building Marcus, and I know he will do great things in the future, too.”

In 2002, Ismail, a Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School graduate, joined Goldman as an analyst in its investment banking division. Today, he manages the group’s U.S. consumer business.

Earlier this month, Goldman launched a new personal finance tool for customers of average means, CNBC reported.

The company declined to comment on the Marcus leadership shuffle.

The 150-year-old Wall Street powerhouse developed its new Marcus Insights platform by leveraging some of the knowledge gained from its $100 million purchase of a personal finance tool called Clarity Money from the brother of PC-making billionaire Michael Dell. The Marcus Insights app will initially be available only to existing Goldman Sachs customers, but will soon be offered more widely, CNBC reported.