Saga teams up with Goldman Sachs for ‘savings partnership’

Saga, the over-50s travel and insurance company, is to team up with Goldman Sachs’ UK consumer bank to launch new savings products and services.

The move will see Saga work as a new “long-term savings partner” with Marcus, Goldman’s savings arm, which accepted its first UK savers in August last year.

Saga saw shares jump in early trading after it announced the deal, which will see it launch new products in autumn 2019.

Marcus, named after the founder of the American banking giant, has attracted 250,000 customers in the UK since its launch.

The move is part of the international expansion of Goldman’s retail banking arm.

Saga said the partnership is one of several strategic initiatives by the group “aimed at returning Saga to its heritage of delivering high-quality products” for its customers.

It comes two months after Saga warned over profits for the coming year amid an overhaul to return to growth, sending shares down by more than a third.

The group said it was launching a “fundamental” strategy rethink in order to change tactics in the insurance business to address “increasing challenges” in its markets.

Chief executive Lance Batchelor said: “This is an exciting time for Saga and our customers as we announce our new long-term savings partnership.

“We know that our customers hold a large proportion of their wealth in savings and want to know that they’re getting a great return with a brand they can trust.

“This is an important strategic partnership for Saga that will help us provide innovative and high-quality products that will be designed not just to meet our customers’ needs, but to exceed their expectations.”

Harit Talwar, global head of Marcus by Goldman Sachs, said: “We are excited to collaborate with brands such as Saga and to provide savings products to their customers.

“This partnership is an example of our ambition to bring our global scale and deep capabilities to meet a broad range of personal finance and investment needs.”

Saga’s shares were up 6.3% at 43.7p in morning trading on Tuesday.