They’re slowly transitioning into the type of megacorp you usually only see in science fiction.
Apple isn’t technically a bank in this case, but even if they were, it’s pretty common and not at all a dystopian sci-fi thing. Sony owns a bank. Hyundai owns a bank. In the US, GM made a bank over a century ago, spun it off in 2006 (it’s now called Ally), realized that was a mistake, and bought an existing bank in 2010.
Realistically once a business hits a certain size it’s practically a requirement. There’s not really a good way to be a company with a market cap of hundreds of billions, yet alone trillions and not at least act like a bank in a whole lot of situations. Might as well actually own one.
Apple isn’t technically a bank in this case, but even if they were, it’s pretty common and not at all a dystopian sci-fi thing. Sony owns a bank. Hyundai owns a bank. In the US, GM made a bank over a century ago, spun it off in 2006 (it’s now called Ally), realized that was a mistake, and bought an existing bank in 2010.
Realistically once a business hits a certain size it’s practically a requirement. There’s not really a good way to be a company with a market cap of hundreds of billions, yet alone trillions and not at least act like a bank in a whole lot of situations. Might as well actually own one.