Google has reportedly cancelled the launch of its digital checking account Plex.

According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, the tech giant is pulling the plug on Plex in order to focus more on “delivering digital enablement for banks and other financial services providers rather than us serving as the provider of these services".

Google Pay said last year that 11 US banks and credit unions, including minority-owned depository banks, would start offering co-branded Plex accounts on Google Pay from this year.

The idea was first explored in 2019 when Google, Citi Bank and a credit union affiliated to Stanford University planned to launch a digital account within the Google Pay app.

According to the WSJ, the co-branded, FDIC-insured digital accounts were set to be built on top of the partner banks’ infrastructure and launched in the Google Pay app this year.

The paper reported that Citi has more than 400,000 people on its Plex waiting list, while other partners in the project have only just learned of the plans to abandon Plex.
FStech has reached out to Google for comment.

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