JPMorgan Retail Arm Chase UK Crosses £10B in Deposits in First Year

J.P. Morgan’s digital bank Chase UK is closing out its first year with £10 billion in deposits and 1 million customers as the digital retail bank headquartered at Canary Wharf, London takes on local rivals and diversifies revenue sources.

This is the investment banker’s first move into retail banking in the U.K. and follows the launch three years ago of the Goldman Sachs app-based savings account Marcus. Chase UK attracted more customers than the 750,000 that Marcus attracted, the bank said in its first annual update on Wednesday (Sept. 26), FT reported.

Chase UK attracted double the number of customers it announced at an investor day presentation in May and also processed roughly 92 million credit and debit card and other payment transactions, per the report.

See also: JPMorgan’s UK Digital Bank Processed 20 Million Payments in 8 Months

With 1 million customers, Chase UK is below U.K. digital bank Starling with 2.7 million customers and Monzo with nearly 6 million. It is also way behind high street lenders like Lloyds with 26 million customers, HSBC UK with close to 15 million and NatWest with 12.5 million, FT reported.

Its deposit base of £10 billion is still trailing behind Marcus, which has accrued £22 billion. Marcus was edging toward the £25 billion limit for deposits. After £25 billion, the deposit unit has to be ringfenced from the rest of the bank.

Chase UK customers have an average of £27,000 in their Chase Saver account, compared to the national average for savings of £23,000, according to the report.

UK chief executive of Chase Sanjiv Somani said the bank is planning to expand and offer investment products from Nutmeg through its app. J.P. Morgan acquired digital wealth manager Nutmeg in June 2021 in an estimated £700 million deal, FT reported.

The bank is also looking to add more talent to its team of more than 1,000 employees, launch a Chase-branded credit card, introduce new features to the Chase current account, and roll out additional savings options and lending products, per the report.