Goldman’s consumer push showing ‘real growth,’ expected to more than double over 2 years, CEO says

Goldman Sachs expects investment into its digital consumer platform to really pay off in less than two years, CEO David Solomon told CNBC on Wednesday.

“I put out a target at the end of 2024 of over $4 billion of revenue for that business,” Solomon said in an interview that aired on “Mad Money.” “Last year [we] had about $1.5 billion of revenue, so we’re showing real growth in that business.”

“We’re expanding the customers. We’re expanding the products that we can offer. And when you look at that revenue going forward over the next three years, most of that growth is coming from investments that have been made” already, he added.

Goldman Sachs launched its Marcus unit in 2016 in a push into digital-only consumer banking.

• After offering savings and personal loans, the firm added the Apple Card — and last year unveiled an investing product aimed beyond its wealthy clientele to everyone.
• Since its inception, Marcus has taken in more than $100 billion in digital deposits from 10 million clients, Solomon said.
• The recent launch of the My GM Rewards card, in partnership with General Motors and Mastercard, brought in 3 million clients, he added.
• In pursuit of other opportunities to bolster its standing in consumer banking, Goldman Sachs last year agreed to buy fintech platform GreenSky for around $2.24 billion in stock.

Shares of Goldman Sachs have dropped more than 10% in 2022, relatively in-line with the S&P 500’s year-to-date decline but roughly twice as much as rivals Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase.

Solomon also told CNBC’s Jim Cramer that banking activity overall is currently outperforming 2021’s performance but down from pre-Covid pandemic levels in 2019.

Still, the chief executive said he expects the digital consumer platform to grow sizably in the coming years.

“The build portion is basically in the ground,” Solomon said. “We’ve got a good runway to really expand the platform … and I know if we execute on it, ultimately, people will come to appreciate the value of what we’re doing.”