Goldman Sachs reintroduces Marcus to new UK savers

The US-based banking company stopped new savers from signing up to the savings accounts back in June 2020 after a surge in demand. Marcus will offer 0.5% on cash deposited into new accounts, this time in 2020 the rate was around 1.45%, which then fell to 1.3% in March 2020, then 1.2% in April and again to 1.05% in May 2020 before new customer signups were halted altogether. 

The rate offered with the Marcus account is roughly double what you can earn with the average easy-access account currently on the market. According to the bank’s spokesperson, Marcus hold GBP 21 billion in deposits so it still has capacity before reaching the ringfencing threshold. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Goldman was forced to shutter its easy-access savings account as its 500,000 deposited billions of pounds, meaning the bank was edging closer and closer to regulatory limits.

At the time, Marcus had more than GBP 21 billion in its saving accounts and UK-based banking regulations require companies with deposits of more than GBP 25 billion to become a separate entity from its parent company, called ringfencing.