SAN FRANCISCO—Alphabet Incs Google said on Wednesday it will offer personal checking accounts next year through its Google Pay app, initially in partnership with Citigroup Inc and a small credit union at Stanford University.
The project, codenamed Cache, comes as rivals Facebook Inc and Apple Inc are expanding their own efforts in consumer finance, a broad area that ranges from digital payment apps to bank accounts, brokerage accounts and loans, and which offer Silicon Valley new sources of revenue and new opportunities to strengthen ties with users.
U.S. regulators and lawmakers have expressed concern about how those companies massive influence and poor records on data privacy will play out as they try to gain ground in finance. The scrutiny most recently prompted Facebooks partners to pull back from plans to support the launch of a digital currency.
Google said it has held initial talks with regulators, though it declined to specify which ones, about compliance issues related to the new checking accounts.
Asked about Googles plans, U.S. Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat on the Senate panel that oversees banking, expressed reservations.
“There ought to be very strict scrutiny,” Warner told CNBC about tech giants such as Facebook or Google entering new fields before rules governing them were in place.
Google spokesman Craig Ewer said the companys lead partners were Citi and Stanford Federal Credit Union and that more details would be known within months.
“Were exploring how we can partner with banks and credit unions in the U.S. to offer smart checking accounts through Google Pay, helping their customers benefit from useful insights and budgeting tools, while keeping their money in an FDIC or NCUA-insured account,” Ewer said in a statement, referring by acronym to two U.S. agencies that insure deposits.
Stanford Federal and Citi confirmed their roles.
“This agreement has the potential to expand the reach and breadth of our customer base,” Citi spokeswoman Liz Fogarty said. “Privacy and transparency are, and will continue to be, critical priorities.”
Joan Opp, president and chief executive of Stanford Federal, described the deal as “critical to remaining relevant and meeting consumer expectations.”
Traditional banks have long partnered with companies outside the industry to lure deposits or expand their loan books.
The most recent prominent example is Goldman Sachs Group Inc teaming up with Apple Inc on a credit card this year, but other regulated banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc, American Express Corp, and Green Dot Bank, have teamed with companies, including Amazon.com Inc, Walmart Inc, Delta Air Lines Inc and Home Depot Inc to offer co-branded products.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Googles plan and quoted Caesar Sengupta, general manager and vice president of payments at Google, as describing an approach of partnering deeply with banks.
“It may be the slightly longer path, but its more sustainable,” Sengupta said.
Leaning on the regulatory and financial know-how of banks could allow Google to proceed without engaging much with bank regulators.
For instance, deposits are stored in an account managed by a regulated bank and protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) and National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), and if the lender does not share consumers financial data with Google, there may not be a regulatory problem or license requirements.
Googles biggest success in financial services has been in India, where it has over 67 million monthly users for Google Pay, which is used to digitally pay for groceries, Uber rides and other transactions.
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