Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks at the Anti-Defamation League’s “Never is Now” summit in New York City, December 3, 2018
Apple is working with Goldman Sachs on a joint credit card that the companies plan to roll out this spring, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Employees will begin testing the card soon and it will officially launch later in 2019, according to the report. The credit card will be paired with new iPhone features, designed to help Apple customers manage their finances.
The card will use Mastercard’s network, the WSJ reported. Additionally, card users are expected about 2 percent in cash back on the majority of purchases, the report said, with possibly greater returns for purchases of Apple products. Beyond the bonuses, the reports says Apple and Goldman Sachs hope to attract users with extra features in the technology company’s Wallet application, such as tracking rewards and spending, as well as managing account balances.
“Card reportedly will have high rewards, highlighting competition, though this is clearly not a gamechanger,” Credit Suisse said in a note to investors on Thursday.
Apple is trying to up its take of iPhone credit card purchases, as the company currently gets a small cut when users make purchases through Apple Pay. Additionally, Apple is looking to boost revenue from things other than gadgets, and the payments space is in the midst of intense competition from banks and tech startups.
Goldman Sachs is also attempting to push further into the digital payments realm and diversify its revenue away from institutional areas like trading and investment banking. In 2016, Goldman Sachs launched digital retail bank Marcus and this credit card would help turn Apple users into more Marcus customers.
Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Read the full story from the Wall Street Journal here.
CNBC’s
Michael Bloom
and
Hugh Son
contributed to this report.
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