Goldman CEO Confirms Apple Card Partnership Could End Soon

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In late 2023, the news broke that Apple and Goldman Sachs would be calling it quits before the end of their contract. This was followed by months of rumors and speculation about Apple’s plans for a new partner, and now Goldman’s CEO has just confirmed that the partnership between his company and Apple won’t make it to the end of its contract.
Apple and Goldman joined forces to launch the Apple Card in 2019, with Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon calling it the “most successful credit card launch ever. However, while it may have gotten off to a great start, the relationship began to sour as insider sources revealed that the Apple Card had cost the investment bank over $1 billion in the three years of its operation, much of which came as a result of Apple’s insistence that the card be marketed as separate from a “bank” and pushed for approvals on applicants that may have otherwise been denied.
Apple’s intransigence also caused undue complications for Goldman’s customer service department, insisting that all customers get their bills on the first of the month. That differs from nearly every other credit card company, which issues statements on a rolling basis throughout each month to balance the customer service load.

Apple and Goldman were strange bedfellows from the beginning, but the two firms came together because Apple liked the idea of working with a non-traditional bank that would be more open to its way of doing things. For its part, Goldman Sachs, which was targeting young professionals with higher incomes for its Marcus banking platform, jumped at the idea of welcoming upwardly mobile Apple customers into the fold.
By the summer of 2023, Goldman seemed to be looking for a way out. A July Wall Street Journal report revealed that the investment bank had entered into discussions with American Express to gauge its interest in taking over the Apple Card and other aspects of the partnership, such as Apple’s high-yield savings account. Those talks fizzled somewhere along the way, but not before Apple essentially filed for divorce in a November 2023 “exit proposal” that would see the two firms parting ways sometime in 2025.
According to Reuters, Solomon confirmed this to Goldman investors on an earnings call today, although he remained vague about when it would end.
We have a contract with Apple to run that partnership until 2030, although there’s some possibility that it won’t continue until that time frame.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon
Solomon suggested that the bank’s return on equity will “improve in 2025 and 2026,” probably after it unloads the Apple Card, which dragged those numbers down by 75 to 100 basis points last year. Goldman’s platform solutions unit, which handles the Apple Card, posted a net loss of $859 million in 2024. An $89 million fine levied by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFBP) in October for failing to follow federal investigation requirements on disputed transactions likely didn’t help matters much. Goldman shouldered $64 million of that, while Apple was ordered to pay the other $25 million.
Talks with AMEX have reportedly gone nowhere, likely due to the financial company’s reluctance to sacrifice its well-known brand by playing second fiddle to Apple in the partnership. More recent reports indicate Apple is now exploring options with JPMorgan, but even if they come to the framework of an agreement, a lot of details will need to be worked out before things can move over from Goldman Sachs.