Chase Pay officially began in 2015 as a quick response (QR)-code-based app and it was inherited from the failed retailer programme, Current-C. The bank saw this app as a tool that will help them fight the tech giants Apple, Google, and Samsung.
Even with the multi-year effort and investing over $100 million, the app failed to gain popularity and only delivered minimal results. The company decided to shut it down in early 2020.
At that time, JP Morgan Chase said that it would be focusing on combining the technology into apps and websites of some merchants such as Starbucks and Walmart.
“As technology has evolved, so has our strategy for integration at the merchant point of sale. We are incorporating the most popular features directly into the Chase mobile app and chase.com, including receipt capture, direct provisioning of Chase cards to partner wallets, Pay with Points, and Chase Offers,” said a spokesperson of JP Morgan. “In addition, we are working closely with our merchant clients on ways to integrate our digital experiences within their own respective sites.”
JP Morgan has been phasing out its Chase Pay for over a year and now it is rooting out its complete payment method itself.
Also, like other banks, it already migrated its proprietary systems for peer-to-peer payments to Zelle, a network that is used by many banks that offers an easy way to send money, to friends and family. Zelle is often seen as a response to Venmo.
As Chase will discontinue its services, it pushes people to use PayPal. Chase’s website announced, “In preparation for Chase Pay no longer being available for use in PayPal, learn how to add your Chase cards directly to your PayPal account”. The site also reminded users, “You can always add your Chase cards individually to your favorite shopping sites and apps”.
The bank has partnered with PayPal since 2017 and Chase’s cards were integrated effortlessly with PayPal’s interface. It also allowed the bank’s “Ultimate Rewards” points to be used instead of currency.
JP Morgan has been taking tech-forward initiatives aggressively, yet it shows a willingness to discard them if the initiatives aren’t fruitful. In one case, the company closed its digital bank, Finn, after a year when it made its debut. Moreover, it also stopped a tie-up with fintech firm, OnDeck, which aimed to help small-to-medium-sized businesses to obtain loans.
The discontinuation of Chase Pay has somewhat defined that there should be an end to banks that are trying to establish new payment methods. This is because Apple, PayPal, Google, and Samsung have already taken over the major portions of the market share for mobile payment.
The banks have been competitive on the peer-to-peer front only through the Zelle collaboration through which it competes with PayPal, Venmo, and Square.