The cautionary tale of Goldman and Apple’s credit card<br>Apple与Goldman的信用卡合作：创新与监管的碰撞

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{"text":[[{"start":9.26,"text":"To think it all started out so well. "}],[{"start":12.36,"text":"When Goldman Sachs and Apple teamed up to launch a credit card in 2019, neither the storied investment bank nor the technology giant had much experience with consumer banking. "},{"start":21.613999999999997,"text":"That did not stop them from dreaming big. "}],[{"start":24.869999999999997,"text":"They promised to offer “an innovative, new kind of credit card” with no fees and a cutting edge app “designed to help customers lead a healthier financial life. ”"}],[{"start":32.97,"text":"Goldman chief executive David Solomon hailed the Apple Card as the “most successful credit card launch ever,” and analysts predicted that the partnership would shake up financial services. "}],[{"start":42.53,"text":"But five years on, the double act is a cautionary tale about what can go wrong when big companies try to reinvent retail finance on the fly without thinking through all of the ramifications. "}],[{"start":52.52,"text":"The top US consumer finance watchdog last week declared that Apple and Goldman had “illegally sidestepped” obligations to consumers in their haste to create a novel product. "},{"start":61.612,"text":"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered the two groups to pay a combined $89mn for mishandling disputed charges and misleading customers about interest-free payment plans. "}],[{"start":null,"text":"<div class=http://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\"n-content-layout card-container Piclefthttp://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\" data-layout-name=http://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\"cardhttp://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\" data-layout-width=http://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\"inset-lefthttp://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\"><div class=http://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\"n-content-layout__containerhttp://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\"><h3>FT Edit</h3><div class=http://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\"n-content-layout__slothttp://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\" data-slot-width=http://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\"truehttp://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\"><p>This article was featured in FT Edit, a daily selection of eight stories to inform, inspire and delight, free to read for 30 days. <a href=http://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\"https://www.ft.com/ft-edit?segmentID=dd99ab37-f68b-e5b3-cf36-eb7ec401e0cfhttp://www.acphonor.com/interactive/\">Explore FT Edit here</a> </p></div></div></div>"}],[{"start":71.7,"text":"The partnership has also turned financially sour for Goldman Sachs, which is now trying to exit as it shuts down an ill-fated push into consumer banking that racked up billions in losses. "}],[{"start":81.55,"text":"The saga is partly a warning about hubris. "},{"start":84.529,"text":"Retail banking is not only harder than it looks but also heavily regulated by watchdogs who take their duties very seriously. "},{"start":91.172,"text":"That can put the regulators at odds with buccaneering entrepreneurs who want to shake up existing ways of doing business. "}],[{"start":97.72999999999999,"text":"Tech firms are used to launching in beta, a fancy way of saying that they put out a lightly tested product and then modify and improve it as problems are discovered. "},{"start":106.109,"text":"That attitude spilled over into the Apple Card. "},{"start":108.77699999999999,"text":"Goldman’s board was warned ahead of its August 2019 launch that the system for dealing with disputed charges was “not fully ready”. "},{"start":115.594,"text":"The bank, which would have had to pay penalties to Apple for a delay, opted to push ahead anyway. "}],[{"start":121.74,"text":"In the first two years of the card’s existence, more than 150,000 customer-reported billing errors fell between the cracks in some way, the CFPB said. "},{"start":131.03199999999998,"text":"Apple often failed to send the reports to Goldman. "},{"start":133.874,"text":"When they did arrive, Goldman often failed to respond within legal deadlines — or at all. "},{"start":138.96699999999998,"text":"Customers were left on the hook for tens of thousands of charges that they disputed. "}],[{"start":143.47,"text":"The CFPB also fined the partnership for the “confusing” way in which it offered a free instalment plan, saying that thousands of customers wrongly ended up paying interest anyway. "}],[{"start":152.98,"text":"Innovations contributed to the issues. "},{"start":155.49699999999999,"text":"Apple designed a distinctive user interface and integrated the card into other iPhone apps. "},{"start":160.177,"text":"It also insisted that everyone’s billing cycle coincide with the calendar month, because that was simpler for customers. "}],[{"start":167.22,"text":"The card won top rankings in customer satisfaction surveys. "},{"start":171.124,"text":"But some cardholders got lost in key processes and failed to file forms or tick particular boxes. "},{"start":176.704,"text":"The single billing date led to huge surges in disputed charges that overwhelmed Goldman’s customer service. "}],[{"start":183.4,"text":"“You want to differentiate the product, but when you deviate from the norm, it can be confusing,” says Jason Mikula, a fintech consultant who previously worked at Goldman. "}],[{"start":193.06,"text":"Entrepreneurs are often willing to pay that price for innovation. "},{"start":196.689,"text":"Financial watchdogs take a different view. "},{"start":199.18200000000002,"text":"There is a reason for that. "},{"start":200.762,"text":"If a fledging web search engine or a shaky chatbot offers less than perfect responses, where is the real harm? "},{"start":206.729,"text":"But charging customers unfairly or wrecking their credit scores causes measurable pain that regulators have a duty to prevent. "}],[{"start":214.11,"text":"The episode carries lessons that another group of swashbuckling financial groups should heed: money managers racing to sell alternative assets to wealthy individuals. "}],[{"start":223,"text":"Until recently, private equity and private credit firms took money almost exclusively from big pension funds and endowments and avoided most oversight that way. "},{"start":231.467,"text":"But now that the institutional market is saturated, they are jostling to offer largely untested products to retail investors who may or may not understand what they are buying. "}],[{"start":240.84,"text":"Some alts firms have partnered with traditional asset managers, others are opting to charge ahead on their own. "},{"start":246.657,"text":"I hope these new funds and model portfolios work brilliantly. "},{"start":250.024,"text":"If not, you can be sure that the watchdogs are going to be waiting with bared teeth. "}],[{"start":254.1,"text":""}]],"url":"https://creatives.ftmailbox.cn/album/ede9f1fc-c1f5-4a2a-b2df-a182c6f9e922-1730283370.mp3"}

The cautionary tale of Goldman and Apple’s credit card
Apple与Goldman的信用卡合作：创新与监管的碰撞

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The cautionary tale of Goldman and Apple’s credit card
Apple与Goldman的信用卡合作：创新与监管的碰撞

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