JPMorgan Chase To Hit Apple, PayPal With Mobile Wallet Alternative

JPMorgan Chase & Co recently unveiled a new mobile wallet service, signaling the global bank’s interest in challenging rival lenders and disruptive payment systems like Apple Pay and PayPal Inc. 

Gordon Smith, head of JPMorgan’s consumer bank, said in an interview, “I’m not sure anyone else has embedded the merchant value proposition in the same way that we have. We’re bringing 94 million preloaded accounts, our customers, immediately to the product. The customer has to do nothing but accept the terms and conditions and then we preload the data for the customer. That’s very significant." 

Reuters said the new service appears to be an attempt to bank on the increasing number of people using their smartphones. Many a financial executive believe that mobile payments will be end-consumers’ preferred mode of payment. Although there is no clear winner in the mobile payments race, JPMorgan Chase believes it has the capacity to corner a huge chunk of the market thanks to its deal with Merchant Customer Exchange, a group consisting of major retailers.