Google's Coming for Your Checking Account

Google is the latest tech company interested in gaining a deeper foothold in financial services. The Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) subsidiary is expected to launch a checking account next year, partnering with Citigroup and Stanford Federal Credit Union.

There's a lot to gain for Google. Checking accounts can provide valuable insight into consumers, including their income, where they shop, and how much they spend. Google won't sell users' financial data, executive Caesar Sengupta told The Wall Street Journal. Of course, Google doesn't sell data at all; it merely uses it to target advertisements. That said, Sengupta pointed out it doesn't use data from its mobile wallet Google Pay for advertising purposes.

Still, a deeper relationship for Google with people's finances provides several opportunities for the company, and it could help it compete with Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), both of which have increasing insights into how consumers are spending their money.

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Source Fool.com