Investment banking company JP Morgan Chase announced that they will be opening the much-anticipated, feature-rich UK digital retail bank any time next week. Although the Chase digital bank will initially offer current (checking) accounts along with a rewards programme, it will eventually offer other retail banking services such as personal and mortgage lending as well as retail investments.
In announcing the forthcoming launch, the CEO of the bank’s International Consumer, Mr. Sanoke Viswanathan, mentioned that they would prioritize investing heavily on the Chase digital bank in the UK, before proceeding with plans to expand ita to countries located in Latin America and Europe.
Chase CEO Confirms Heavy Investments on New UK Digital Bank
CEO Visnawathan remarked that the move to shift to digital retail banking poses as a huge strategic commitment as they expect to spend hundreds of millions to make its operations sustainable. The CEO’s statement gave credence to earlier rumours that US JP Morgan closed a £700 million deal with digital wealth manager Nutmeg, to boost the launch of the Chase digital bank in UK.
During its development period, the digital bank was called ‘Project Dynamo’ and has been likened to Goldman Sachs’ Marcus, Chase’s closest competitor.
However, CEO Visnawathan emphasized that the digital bank will be doing more as they intend to keep customers in a banking relationship with Chase UK for three to four years at the very least. He added that JP Morgan is well aware that they have to spend hefty amounts of money, as they will be competing not only against Marcus, but also against UK’s high street giants and other emerging contenders in the investments market.