In the recent news, tech giant Google has announced that the company has stopped working on its pay-based banking service, Google Plex.
Google first announced the product in November last year in collaboration with Citibank and a few other financial organizations, however, now Google is pulling back from the product. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company is “abandoning plans to pitch bank accounts to its users.”
Moreover, a Google spokesperson stated that it’s “updating our approach to concentrate primarily on delivering digital enablement for banks and other commercial services providers rather than us serving as the provider of these services.”
Google Plex was In Works to Be an Easy Way to Avail Banking Services
Furthermore, Google Plex was originally placed as an easy mobile-first way to create bank accounts, with Google providing the technology and app layout and banks and credit providers supporting the finances. It appeared more like a means to help institutions that didn’t yet have an advanced, qualified app to team up with Google on one, which is why notable names like Bank of America and Capital One, who already had existing apps, weren’t on the list of partners.
Several Banks Were Looking Forward to Google’s Pay-Based Banking Service
In addition to this, a Citibank spokesperson said it plans to recommend other accounts to people who had already signed up for the pay-based banking service, Google Plex waiting list. The report also informs that the waiting list counted around 400,000 people and that the pandemic had thrown plans off schedule. The Journal also recorded that “As late as this week, several banks were under the impression that the project would still move forward.”
Though the pay-based banking service, Google Plex project is ending, Google does seem to want to stick around in the monetary services market. The spokesperson stated that “We strongly believe that this is the best way for Google to help consumers gain better access to financial services and to help the financial services ecosystem connect more deeply with their customers in a digital environment.”
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