JPMC To Close Down Digital Wallet

Approximately one year after ending the freestanding app, J.P. Morgan Chase is closing down its Chase Pay digital wallet, Bloomberg reported.

The choice to harness Chase Pay for transactions will be taken down from every retailer website and app by March’s end, Bloomberg reported, citing a notice on the bank’s site.

“You can always add your Chase cards individually to your favorite shopping sites and apps,” the notice said. “In preparation for Chase Pay no longer being available for use in PayPal, learn how to add your Chase cards directly to your PayPal account.”

Pablo Rodriguez, a J.P. Morgan representative, said per an emailed statement, “As technology has evolved, so has our strategy for integration at the merchant point of sale.”

Rodriguez noted that the bank is “incorporating the most popular features directly into the Chase mobile app and Chase.com,” such as logging receipts or using points to make payments.

J.P. Morgan announced it would shut down its Chase Pay app, which let users make payments with their smartphones at brick-and-mortar locations, in 2019.

At the time, it was noted that the Chase Pay app, which let shoppers tap at point-of-sale (POS) terminals, debuted four years prior as a way to compete with firms such as Apple.

“When we started this, it was four years ago — the payment space has changed a lot over the period of time and customer behavior has changed,” a Chase Pay executive said at the time. “A lot of merchants have shifted to ‘buy online, pick up in store’ and have invested in their online presence and their apps.”

J.P. Morgan has been aggressive in its launch of tech-forward initiatives, yet it has also displayed a willingness to jettison them if they are not immediately fruitful. In one case, the firm closed down its digital bank Finn one year after it made its debut. Moreover, it halted a tie-up with FinTech firm OnDeck, which was harnessed to help small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) obtain loans.