---
title: "Google Is Going to Start Offering Bank Accounts"
description: "According to an exclusive report by The Wall Street Journal, Google will start offering bank checking accounts to its Google Pay customers."
date: "2019-11-13"
modified: "2019-11-13"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-offering-bank-accounts"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Google"
tags:
  - "facebook"
  - "financial data"
  - "Google"
  - "the digest"
---

# Google Is Going to Start Offering Bank Accounts

![According to an exclusive report by The Wall Street Journal, Google will start offering bank checking accounts to its Google Pay customers.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/google-offering-bank-accounts.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Images via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Google Checking

Some of the biggest tech companies in the world, [including Apple](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/steve-wozniak-apple-card-discriminated-against-wife>), have been trying to break into the personal banking space by offering credit cards and checking accounts to their customers.

Now, according to an [exclusive report](<https://www.wsj.com/articles/next-in-googles-quest-for-consumer-dominancebanking-11573644601?mod=rsswn>) by *The Wall Street Journal*, Google is joining those efforts — with a plan to start offering checking accounts to its billions of users.

## Tech Bank

Google competitor Facebook has struggled to break into the financial space. Its plans to establish [Libra](<https://futurism.com/facebook-libra-cryptocurrency>), an international cryptocurrency, have been met with [criticism](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/french-government-barred-facebooks-cryptocurrency>) from governments around the world. A large number of partners and investors have [already backed out](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebooks-cryptocurrency-collapsing>) prior to a planned 2020 launch.

Google's plans are not quite as ambitious as Libra. The idea is to have users access their checking accounts through Google's digital wallet, Google Pay, according to *WSJ* — the same app that allows customers to pay for stuff using their Android smartphones. So far, the service has almost 100 million users.

But there's one massive hurdle Google will have to inevitably cross to make its banking services a real choice to consumers: it will have to convince them their personal data is safe.

**READ MORE:** [Next in Google’s Quest for Consumer Dominance—Banking](<https://www.wsj.com/articles/next-in-googles-quest-for-consumer-dominancebanking-11573644601?mod=rsswn>) \[*The Wall Street Journal*\]

**More on Silicon Valley and finance:** *[Facebook’s Cryptocurrency is Collapsing in Front of Our Eyes](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebooks-cryptocurrency-collapsing>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)