J.P. Morgan Chase (JPMC) is planning to open in the U.K., debuting its first overseas retail bank in its more than 200-year history, the Financial Times (FT) reported Thursday (Sept. 16). The bank will be digital-only.
Sanoke Viswanathan, head of JPMC’s international customer division, said in the report that the bank plans to invest in the new U.K. operation and make itself a “serious force” there.
The new project was codenamed Project Dynamo and has been in a quiet development stage for the past two years, according to the report. Viswanathan said the project will let customers “do all their banking” with JPMC and not have to use any other institutions within a few years.
Read more: JPMorgan Chase Plans Rollout Of UK Digital Retail Bank
JPMC is bringing its services into a competitive U.K. market, saturated now with digital-only startups like Monzo, Starling and Revolut, which have managed to peel off millions of customers from older, traditional banks, the report stated.
However, those banks have also been sluggish to develop lending capabilities, according to the report. They haven’t always kept up with the regulatory requirements, either.
JPMC is hoping its huge tech budget and lack of a branch network will pay off, the report stated. In addition, it will use its regulatory expertise and strong balance sheet to get ahead of newer startups.
Larger banks don’t always have a flawless record of getting into digital brands, and JPMC itself nixed its first effort, a domestic brand called Finn, after it didn’t really take off with customers or manage to differentiate itself from the main network the bank already had, according to the report.
JPMC also wants to expand into Europe and Latin America, the report stated.
The bank plans to only offer current accounts with a rewards program at first. Later, it will expand into areas like personal lending and investment, along with mortgages at some point.
In other news, J.P. Morgan is also now powering credit card processing for Alibaba.com, the B2B division of Alibaba Group.
Read more: JPMorgan Now Powering US Credit Cards on China’s Alibaba.com
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