JPMorgan Chase Buys MCX’s Payments Technology To Expand Chase Pay

JPMorgan announced Monday (March 13) it has inked a deal to acquire MCX’s payments technology in an effort to expand Chase Pay, its mobile and digital wallet for its Chase customers.

In a press release, JPMorgan said the transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks and that MCX is the largest merchants’ network in America. Since MCX’s members were already connected to MCX, payments technology connecting to Chase Pay was seamless, JPMorgan noted. Chase executives wanted to acquire the technology instead of building a separate technology to serve its non-MCX customers.

“When we think about FinTech,’we go through a ‘build/buy/partner’ evaluation to decide how we can get to market most efficiently,” said Jennifer Roberts, head of Chase Pay, in the press release. “MCX has been an important partner, and their technology complements ours, so we’re thrilled to deepen our relationships with the merchant community through the purchase of this technology. This will help us get to market faster.”

Chase Pay launched in November 2016 with a handful of initial merchants, including Best Buy. Other MCX merchants such as Walmart, Shell, Phillips 66 and Wakefern will enable Chase Pay as a payment option over the next year or more, JPMorgan said. This is the second FinTech announcement for Chase Pay in the past few months. In December, Chase announced an investment in LevelUp to bring the ability to order and pay ahead to customers at thousands of quick-service restaurants.

Also in December, Atom Tickets, the mobile-first movie ticketing platform, announced it will integrate Chase Pay as a preferred method of payment in 2017. In a press release, Atom Tickets said customers will be able to use Chase Pay in the Atom Tickets app and on the website to pay for tickets and pre-order concessions from over 15,000 U.S. screens, as well as purchase movie-related merchandise.

“Consistent with our mission to provide secure, consumer-friendly and cost-effective mobile payment solutions to the marketplace, MCX took advantage of this opportunity to have the solution expanded to the broader merchant community,” said Brian Mooney, CEO of MCX.