Google plans to offer checking accounts

According to the WSJ, Google plans to start offering checking accounts next year. The tech giant will partner with Citigroup and a Stanford University credit union that will run accounts customers access through Google Pay, the company’s digital wallet product.

“Our approach is going to be to partner deeply with banks and the financial system. It may be the slightly longer path, but it’s more sustainable.” – Caesar Sengupta, a Google VP who oversees the company’s payment initiatives, told the WSJ while pointing out the benefits the banks will receive thanks to the company’s ability to work with large sets of data and turning those into value-added products.

Bottom Line: “You better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone for the times they are a-changin'”