Google Halts Plans for Google Pay-Based Banking Service

Google stopped working on its Plex service, which aimed to let you do your banking through the Google Pay app, The Verge reported on Saturday.

The service was supposed to let users sign up for checking or savings accounts offered by a variety of traditional banks which enable users to manage through the app.

Google canceled the project due to a series of missed deadlines and because an executive who pushed for the project left the company, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

A report that came out before the company revealed the program and information from its official announcement revealed that Plex wasn’t meant to put Google in direct competition with banks.

Instead, the company planned to partner with financial institutions that would have provided accounts without monthly or overdraft fees and without minimum balances.  Some of these institutions included Citi and SEFCU.

In an email on Friday, the company told The Verge that it still believes there’s demand from consumers for simpler ways to pay for things while shopping both online and in person.

However, it will now be focusing on “delivering digital enablement for banks and other financial services providers rather than us serving as the provider of these services.”