Chase Bank pulls in more than 1m UK customers in its first year

Chase Bank now has over a million UK customers who bank with it, just 12 months after it opened its operations in the UK.

The digital bank, part of US giant JP Morgan, launched last September and has already had more sign-ups than both Monzo and Starling Bank have done in their first full 12 months combined – although there’s a lot more power behind it.

Chase already serves more than 56 million digital customers in the US and parent company JPMorgan manages trillions of pounds of assets.

In the UK, Chase now holds more than £10 billion in customer deposits and has processed 92 million card and payment transactions since launch.

Compared to other challenger banks, customer growth so far has been impressive.

Monzo Bank won 150,000 in its first year, albeit with its prepaid debit card service at the time, while app-based Starling Bank grew from 50,000 to more than 400,000 customers in its first full year.

Monzo now has over six million customers and Starling has over three million.

How did Chase grow so fast?

The bank has attracted customers through a range of features that help them budget, manage, spend and save.

In March, it launched what was at the time a leading, easily accessible savings account with a 1.5 percent payout.

This has proved extremely popular. According to Chase, customers have an average of £27,000 in their Chase Saver account.

In May, it launched a referral program that rewarded customers with £20 each time they successfully referred someone to open a Chase current account.

While its easily accessible savings deal is now being enhanced by a few dozen savings providers and the referral system has long since ended, it can still continue to attract customers in other ways.

Perhaps most notably, it offers 1 percent cash back on expenses for the first 12 months.

This is more generous than most cash back credit cards – albeit only for 12 months.

It means that someone who spends £15,000 on the card in the first year can receive up to £150 in cash back.

It offers a free debit card abroad, which means that its customers are not charged for using their card while traveling, including for cash withdrawals from ATMs.

It also offers an automatic periodic savings feature that allows customers to round their change to the nearest £1 with an interest rate increase of 5 percent.

According to Chase, customers are actively using roundups, with customers saving an average of £13 a month from the small change on their transactions.

Sanjiv Somani, UK chief executive of Chase and Nutmeg, said: “We wanted to offer customers value-for-money banking products with a simple experience, delivered via an easy-to-use app, and we are delighted that consumers have responded so positively to our offering. in our first year.’

What does the future hold for Chase?

Chase plans to further expand its customer base in the UK. To do this, however, it will have to continue to offer better features and benefits than other payment account providers.

Andrew Hagger, personal finance expert at MoneyComms, believes customer inflows are already slowing as savings rates are no longer as competitive.

Hagger says, “Chase has undoubtedly gotten a lot of bills from the 1.5 percent linked savings account, which was far better than anything else on the market at the time of launch.

“But 1.5 percent is now pretty standard compared to the easily accessible savings market, so withdrawals have probably slowed down.

“I don’t think Chase participates in the Payment Account Switching Service either, so I don’t know how many people use it as their main account instead of a secondary account with a decent savings rate.”

Over time, Chase says it plans to introduce a wide range of banking products for its UK customers.

This includes adding new features to the Chase current account, new customer savings options and loan products, such as a Chase credit card.

It also recently completed its acquisition of Nutmeg, the digital wealth management platform, which will be part of a comprehensive investment offering for Chase clients.

Somani added: “This is just the beginning and as we broaden our product offering and fully integrate Nutmeg’s investment products, we look forward to playing a greater role in our clients’ financial lives and supporting communities in the future. that we have. serve.’