J.P. Morgan’s digital-only bank Chase UK has reportedly introduced its first credit card.
The move comes after the banking giant’s British venture took in upwards of £20 billion in deposits in three years, the Financial Times (FT) reported Tuesday (Nov. 19).
The card is being rolled out to a pool of 25,000 British customers, the report said, following a pilot offering for Chase employees. Chase UK now has more than 2 million customers three years into its existence.
That’s fewer than native digital banks such as Monzo and Revolut, the report says, with those companies each having around 10 million customers. Still, Chase has a larger deposit base, as its savings offerings have drawn weather customers. It has also used the Nutmeg platform — purchased by the bank three years ago — to offer investment tools.
The card launch comes two months after reports that the bank was testing a credit card offering in its U.K. mobile app.
And as the FT notes, it’s also happening as J.P. Morgan is expanding its retail banking network overseas, while competitors like Citi are scaling back.
The lender has reportedly been hiring bankers in cities such as Copenhagen and Stockholm to expand its business in the Scandinavian countries. And CEO Jamie Dimon last month announced plans to expand into African nations such as Kenya and Nigeria.
The goal, the FT report said, is for J.P. Morgan and its $4 trillion-plus in assets to create a digital-only retail bank that can compete with local banks outside the U.S.
Research from the PYMNTS Intelligence report “How the World Does Digital” shows that — across 11 countries — roughly 47% of consumers engaged with mobile banking at least weekly.
At the same time, J.P. Morgan has also been expanding its brick-and-mortar banking network in the U.S., recently announcing plans to open 100 branches in lower-income communities. And earlier this year, the bank said it would open 500 new branches and renovate another 1,700. (Rival Bank of America is undertaking a similar expansion effort.)
PYMNTS explored the rationale behind these expansion plans earlier this year, noting that while the banks “conceded that local offices won’t supplant the convenience digital banking offers, both also said they recognize physical locations give consumers a place to go when they want to discuss loans or seek financial advice.”