DOMINANCE

Google to Start Offering Checking Accounts, Wall Street Journal Reports

It’s the latest of the tech giants to announce a push into finance, and it’s likely to get the same pushback from regulators.

Google will soon push into the finance industry and start offering checking accounts to consumers, the Wall Street Journal reports. Google is following the other tech giants who have already announced their inroads into finance. Apple introduced a credit card this summer, Amazon has held talks with banks about offering its own checking accounts, and Facebook is working on a worldwide digital currency. Google's project, reportedly code-named Cache, could launch next year with checking accounts run by Citigroup. The financial institution's brand will be front-and-center on the accounts, not Google's, according to the newspaper. The plan is likely to face some pushback as regulators are already investigating whether the tech giants have too much clout, and have strongly resisted Facebook's digital currency. “Our approach is going to be to partner deeply with banks and the financial system,” said Google executive Caesar Sengupta. “It may be the slightly longer path, but it’s more sustainable.”