Google will not offer its own bank accounts to third parties. At least not yet. After several years in development, the project comes to an abrupt end that takes the Mountain View giant out of the career in which technology companies find themselves by offering their own products related to the financial field .
It is revealed by The Wall Street Journal, who already made known in the first instance the efforts of the firm in this field, in information that Google has subsequently confirmed.
Google Pay. The product, baptized as Google Plex , had the support of important companies in the sector, such as Citigroup or Stanford Federal Credit Union for the launch of checking accounts. The original plan also contemplated the issuance of Mastercard debit cards.
The decision to end its development comes less than a year after the launch of the new Google Pay. With it, the company offered an experience much closer to that of other virtual banks and leading edge of the moment, paving the way for its future foray. One that, for now, will not occur.
Google and the future of banking
Google isn't the only tech giant interested in the financial spectrum. Apple, for example, already offers its own credit card in partnership with Goldman Sachs and is working on enhancing its offering with several more features. Facebook seeks to unify payments between its platforms and launch its cryptocurrency Diem – and all the infrastructure that this implies around it -.
That is why it does not seem likely that Google will stop fully exploring the possibility of offering financial services later . From the company that Sundar Pichai directs, they express in a statement that, for them and their partners, it is “very clear that there is a demand from consumers for simple, fluid and secure digital payments for online and physical transactions in stores.”
However, for now the approach will be simpler . They will focus “primarily on providing digital enablement for banks and other financial service providers rather than us serving as providers of these services.”
If a great technology company can do something, it is to work as an infrastructure facilitator. Becoming something close to what would be understood as a bank, however, is something that has proven more complicated.
