We tried Marcus, the new service that lets Brits bank with Goldman Sachs for as little as £1 - here's what we thought

If you're not an avid follower of British retail banking, you might not have noticed that last week Goldman Sachs quietly launched its Marcus savings account in the UK.

There was little fanfare beyond the press around the UK launch of Goldman's first foray into consumer banking, after 150 years of catering to the rich and powerful around the world.

Named for one of the bank's founders, Marcus Goldman, Marcus first launched in the US in 2016, and is part of an effort to diversify revenue sources as traditional sources of income lag. Marcus has to date written over $2 billion worth of loans in the US.

There are early signs Marcus' UK launch has been a success. Goldman has not yet released any data about customer numbers but Des McDaid, who is leading the project, described the number of users signing up as "stunning."

"Numbers have exceeded even our most ambitious expectations," he said.

Sure, having a bank account with Goldman Sachs sounds cool, but what is Marcus actually like to use?

Business Insider decided to give the bank's basic savings account - the only Marcus product currently available in the UK - a trial run. Here's what we found.

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