Giving up. Google pulls the plug on Plex, won't be offering bank accounts to users

Google is scrapping its plans to offer digital bank accounts its users, having stopped the work on its Plex service, as per reports.

Google parent Alphabet Inc had announced nearly two years ago that Google Pay users will be able to sign up for enhanced checking accounts and debit cards.

Google, alongside a major redesign of the Google Pay app in the US last year had said that users in the US will also be able to open digital accounts called Plex accounts on Google Pay. The tech giant had said that it was working with “trusted financial institutions to create Plex, a new mobile-first bank account integrated into Google Pay.”

“Plex Accounts are offered by banks and credit unions, include checking and savings accounts with no monthly fees, overdraft charges or minimum balance requirements and help you save toward your goals more easily,” it had said.

It has now canceled the project owing to a series of missed deadlines, Wall Street Journal reported. Another factor contributing to it stopping the project is the exit of an executive who pushed for the project, as per the report.

The tech giant told The Verge in an email that it still believes there is a demand from consumers for simpler ways to pay for things while shopping both online and in-person.

However, it will now be focusing primarily on “delivering digital enablement for banks and other financial services providers rather than us serving as the provider of these services," a Google spokesperson said as quoted by the reports.

As per a report in 9to5Google more than 10,000 people were joining the waiting list for Plex accounts each week with the waiting list amassing over 4 lakh people, a Citigroup spokesperson said.

Citigroup will “look for other ways to work with Google in the future," the spokesperson said as quoted by the report.

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