Google's next big thing is offering to be your personal bank (GOOG, GOOGL)

The tech giant is creating checking accounts in partnership with Citigroup and the Stanford Federal Credit Union as part of a project named Cache, which is expected to launch next year, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday morning.
Unlike Apple's credit card which is intentionally branded first and foremost as an Apple product over its financial backer Goldman Sachs the Google checking accounts will carry Citigroup branding. "Our approach is going to be to partner deeply with banks and the financial system," Google executive Caesar Sengupta told the WSJ.
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Forget about searching the web Google's next big thing is far less revolutionary: Banking.

More specifically, Google is looking to create checking accounts in partnership with Citigroup, the parent company of Citibank, and the Stanford Federal Credit Union.

The project, codenamed "Cache," is scheduled to launch to the public next year, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday morning . Unlike Apple's credit card , which prominently featured Apple branding with only a small logo for its financial backer, Goldman Sachs, on the back of the physical card, the Google checking account will look and act like a standard Citibank checking account.

"Our approach is going to be to partner deeply with banks and the financial system," Google executive Caesar Sengupta told the WSJ .

Apple Card Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

No other details about the partnership between Google and Citigroup, or how the checking account will work were available representatives from Google didn't respond to request for comment as of publishing. Citigroup representatives confirmed the deal, but declined to offer further details. Business Insider has also reached out to Stanford Federal Credit Union for comment.

It's unclear whether Google's checking account would charge users a fee Google has yet to decide, it told the Journal. Similar to Apple's approach with the Apple Card integrated directly into the iPhone's Wallet app and Apple Pay, Google checking account users would access their account through Google Pay. And the company is open to adding more banks in the future, according to the Journal.

Like Facebook's attempted foray into financial services with its Calibra and Libra cryptocurrency projects, Google could face an uphill regulatory battle over its attempt to enter the financial market.

The company has faced increasing scrutiny from state and federal regulators over potential antitrust violations, with both the Department of Justice and a group of state attorneys general looking into the tech giant. Google famously provides many of its main services Search, Maps, Gmail, and Photos for free, in exchange for user data.

Unlike those services, Google says it doesn't use Google Pay data the same way.

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