Apple should have bought Goldman Sachs’ PFM unit. Here’s why 🍎; License secured: Elon Musk’s 𝕏 is building a crypto wallet 😳

FinTech is Eating the World, 29 August

Hey Everyone,

Happy Tuesday! Today’s issue is super interesting as we’re going to look at Apple which should have bought Goldman Sachs’ PFM unit (where’s the value at + lots of deeper dives) and Elon Musk who’s building a crypto wallet at 𝕏 (it’s a BIG move + a deep dive into the Everything App). Let’s jump straight into the intriguing stuff 🌶

Apple should have bought Goldman Sachs’ PFM unit. Here’s why 🍎

The news 🗞️ Banking giant Goldman Sachs GS 0.00%↑ continues its retreat from the mass-market banking arena, selling off its Personal Financial Management (PFM) unit to Creative Planning.

Let’s take a closer look at this and why it could have been a good bite for Apple AAPL 0.00%↑.

More on this 👉 We can remember that Goldman acquired a team of about 220 financial advisors managing $25 billion in assets in May 2019, when it announced the $750 million acquisition of United Capital Financial Partners.

At the time, CEO David Solomon heralded the deal as a way to broaden Goldman’s reach beyond the ultra-rich clientele that is its main strength to those who are merely wealthy, with perhaps a few million dollars to invest.

It’s now clear that this bet didn’t pay off.

With the bank now retreating from the consumer strategy, Goldman is selling PFM to Creative, a wealth management firm that recently entered into a strategic custody relationship with Goldman Sachs Advisor Solutions.

One must remember that Goldman has already hived off digital bank Marcus and put the Apple Credit Card business into a new Platform Solutions unit alongside the firm's transaction banking operations and BNPL outfit Greensky, which is also reportedly for sale.

ICYMI: Goldman Sachs is considering divorcing GreenSky 😳

Goldman Sachs wants to end the Apple Card partnership 💳😵

In January it reported that the Platform Solutions unit made a pre-tax loss of $1.2 billion in the first nine months of 2022. Ups.

Goldman’s strategic options 🧠 It’s been argued for a while that GS will sell parts of its consumer business to major credit card companies or consumer lenders. Alternatively, the bank could bring in a majority-controlled partner to run the unit.

Yet, I’d argue that this is exactly where Apple could come in and change the game forever. Here’s why & how (+ some more bonus reads & deep dives):