Goldman bankers join Walmart effort to take on Wall Street

Goldman bankers join Walmart effort to take on Wall Street

The head of Goldman Sachs' consumer finance division, Omer Ismail, and one of its top executives, David Stark, are both leaving to join a fintech start-up backed by Walmart and Ribbit Capital.

The hires represent a big step in the second big effort by the world's largest retailer to enter financial services, after it abandoned its plan to start a bank over a decade ago, under pressure from regulators.

Walmart and Ribbit have provided little information about the start-up, which was announced in January, other than to say that it would "deliver tech-driven financial experiences tailored to Walmart's customers and associates.“ It will be majority owned by the retailer, and the companies said that "growth may come through partnerships and acquisitions.“ 

Ismail was tapped to lead Goldman's consumer division, known as Marcus, less than six months ago, taking over from founding chief Harit Talwar. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School, Ismail has been at Goldman since 2002. Stark, a Goldman partner who has been at Marcus since its founding almost five years ago, was recently put in charge of partnerships at the unit. He played a key role in establishing the credit-card partnership with Apple. 

In 2020, Marcus generated just under $1.2bn in