Google Seeks Banking Reset Through Recruiting PayPal Exec Arnold Goldberg

Google has hired PayPal exec Arnold Goldberg to help reset its ambitions for banking and payments.

Google's most recent foray into the banking sector, Plex, was killed off after bank's got cold feet about giving the firm a leg-up into the current accounts business.

At the time, Google said it wanted to focus on "delivering digital enablement for banks and other financial services providers rather than us serving as the provider of these services".

Google's president of commerce Bill Ready says Arnold's recruitment is part of a broader strategy to take a more nuanced approach to financial services and the payment industry, including cryptcurrencies.

"We're not a bank," Ready told Bloomberg. "We have no intention of being a bank. Some past efforts, at times, would unwittingly wade into those spaces."

Google wants to become the connective tissue for the entire consumer finance industry, not just certain partners, according to Ready.

Ready, a former PayPal's COO who joined Google in 2019, has recruited Goldberg, who ran PayPal's merchant business, to become the VP for the payments and emerging market efforts. He is expected to play a key role in Google's entry into the cryptocurrency industry.

(Source: Finextra)