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Google drops plan for Plex bank accounts

Citi and a range of other financial institutions had signed up to offer the accounts this year.

Screenshot of Google Plex accounts

Google won't be moving forward with its Plex bank accounts.

Screenshot: Google

Google is dropping plans for a key consumer banking product, in a major shift for the company's fintech strategy.

The company's plans for Plex bank accounts had included checking and debit accounts offered in partnership with banks like Citigroup. The accounts were to have been tightly connected with its Google Pay wallet.

Caesar Sengupta, the former head of the Plex project, left Google in April, per the Wall Street Journal, which broke the story.

It's unclear what the move means for the new direction of Google Pay wallet. Google has been promoting its Google Pay digital wallet in the U.S., which has been popular in India.

Plex was a high-stakes launch for Google and Citi. Jane Fraser, then head of Citi's global consumer bank and now the bank's CEO, said in a November YouTube video that she felt "a tremendous sense of pride for helping to create a new and truly unique new way to bank nationwide."

It is not the first time Citi abandoned a digital-first banking product. Citi launched a branchless, internet-focused banking service, Citi f/i, in 1999 and shut it down in 2000.

Tomio Geron

Tomio Geron ( @tomiogeron) is a San Francisco-based reporter covering fintech. He was previously a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal, covering venture capital and startups. He was also as a staff writer at Forbes covering social media and venture capital, and edited the Midas List of top tech investors. He can be reached at tgeron@protocol.com or tgeron@protonmail.com.

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