JPMorgan digital bank competes for UK customers

JPMORGAN has announced an aggressive move into Britain’s retail banking market, with best-in-class cash back and savings rates aimed at luring customers from established rivals.

Chase, JPMorgan’s new digital bank, officially launches in the UK today. The bank offers customers 1% cashback on debit card spending for the first year and a 5% savings rate on small change automatically rounded up from card purchases and saved. Overseas spending is fee free and the bank promises market leading exchange rates.

“The product is very, very competitive,” Sanoke Viswanathan, the executive in charge of the launch, told the Standard.

The customer giveaways represent a significant opening salvo from JPMorgan in the already crowded British retail banking market. Viswanathan said JPMorgan had spent hundreds of millions building the new business and would spend tens of millions on its launch.

“This is a big strategic effort for the bank,” he told the Standard. “We’ve been working on this for a few years. It’s a big deal for us.”