San Francisco: After Apple and Facebook, Google is all set to take a plunge into the financial world, with a bank near you.
A Wall Street Journal report Wednesday said the seaech engine giant aims to partner with banks to offer checking accounts within Google Pay app to consumers.
Code-named Cache, the Google banking project is likely to launch in 2020 with accounts run by ‘Citigroup and a credit union at Stanford University’.
According to Google, it will not sell account holders’ financial data.
Caesar Sengupta, General Manager & VP, Payments and Next Billion Users, “If we can help more people do more stuff in a digital way… it’s good for the Internet and good for us”.
Facebook, which has launched a payment system for all its apps — WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and Facebook — is facing scrutiny over its digital currency Libra.
US lawmakers bluntly told Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a hearing last month to address his existing failures first before launching the digital currency Libra.
In a six-hour grilling at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, both Democrat and Republican lawmakers expressed dissatisfaction with Facebook”s cryptocurrency plans.
Facebook plans to launch Libra next year.
On the other hand, the New York Department of Financial Services has opened a probe into allegations of gender discrimination by Apple Card issuer Goldman Sachs while determining credit limits.
The investigation into the algorithm used to set credit limits for the Apple Card followed a series of tweets by entrepreneur David Heinemeier Hansson (known as DHH) about Apple Card.