Goldman Sachs promotes in-house innovation (GS)

Investment banking giant Goldman Sachshas launchedan in-house incubator, dubbed GS Accelerate, aimed at encouraging employees to develop new innovative solutions.

The incubator will consider applications for solutions that can increase customer satisfaction by getting Goldman into new business areas, helping it better manage risk, and tackling other inefficiencies within the company.

Goldman’s strategic team will review the submissions and then select 2-6 people to participate in the incubator. The company has already invested in 23 fintechs, including some involved in blockchain, wealth management, regtech, showing how keen it is to implement new technologies.

Here is why GS Accelerate will likely be a success:

Goldman has a large number of tech-savvy employees.
Forty-six percent
Finding tech talent is still an issue for incumbents.
finding tech talent

An increasing number of incumbents are looking for talent in-house. Goldman Sachs is not the only incumbent to look within its own company for talented people to come up with new solutions. Citi has launched a division called Citi FinTech that includes staff in the development of new innovations. This is likely a trend that we will see more of in the future, with an increasing number of companies competing for talent, and incumbents realizing that their current employees may already have the necessary know-how to develop new solutions.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

Just 17% of the industry majority have managed to launch five or more digitally driven products since the start of their innovation efforts, and only 16% have implemented five or more digital mid- or back-office solutions.
of fintechs say differences in management and culture are a challenge when working with incumbents, and 40% of FIs agree.