Google to Become a Bank?

photo: siliconbeachtraining.co.uk

(The Atlantic Wire) By Adam Clark Estes - Google, the search engine company that also happens to do 35 other things, is expanding its horizons once again with a new financial services division. On Monday, the multi-billion dollar corporation is set to launch a new credit business in the United Kingdom with plans to expand to other countries in the next few weeks, according to the Financial Times.

Based on what we know so far, the program will let businesses take out a line of credit -- between $200 and $10,000 -- to spend on Google's money-making AdWords program. Google's treasurer Brent Callinicos told the FT that businesses just "weren't buying Adwords as much as they need to," and a pilot program in the United States last year showed that offering loans made customers advertise more. Callinicos admitted that the company is "not doing this to lose money" and they're also "not trying to run the financing business as a profit centre." Starting in the U.S. and then spreading to other countries, however, Google will issue credit cards as part of the new financing program, with initial interest rates for small- to medium-sized businesses at a competitive 8.99 percent. Read full story...

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10 Ways Google Is Working Towards World Domination - Google started out with a simple goal -- to deliver the best search engine in the business -- and since achieving that has expanded into, well, just about everything.. From advertising to mobile operating systems to even desktop operating systems, Google is pushing for a leadership position in each and every market...

Why Would Google Become A Bank? - Search Engine Watch - What might motivate Google to branch out into banking down the road? There's a long list of advantages for the Bank of Google, but we'll stick...