JP Morgan to enter P2P payments space
JP Morgan has revealed that it is building a P2P payment app featuring its QuickPay service. While not specifically confirmed by the bank, comments from CEO Jamie Dimon suggest the app will be made available to other banks for white-labelling.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is building a peer-to-peer payment app featuring its QuickPay service, which is tied into the clearXchange network, CEO Jamie Dimon announced yesterday.

Dimon did not say when the app would be launched, only that it “will be rolled out shortly.” Interestingly, Dimon seemed to indicate that JPM would make the app available to other banks for private-labeling, though his word was unclear and a bank spokeswoman was unable to give additional information.

The bank has been at pains to discuss its higher volume in peer-to-peer payments compared to nonbank competitors. CFO Marianne Lake cited a figure of $21 billion transferred via QuickPay last year on the recent 2Q earnings call. Still, it may come as a surprise to hear Chase plans to launch a standalone app to compete directly in this space. Here’s what Dimon said yesterday:

So if you look at the whole payment space, Chase Paymentech has gained share, ChaseNet is doing very well, Chase Pay, we have signed up lots of different people and one piece of that is P2P. So today right now, if you use Chase QuickPay, it is very easy within Chase to Chase, it is just now as easy to open Chase to a bunch of other banks. I won’t name now, but we just started rolling out and soon it will be rolled out to 60% of American banking accounts and then we are going to make it available to all banks. So you will be able to go P2P real-time through Chase QuickPay. There will be a special app for Chase QuickPay, but it will also be branded on other names which we haven’t rolled out yet, which I think will be rolled out shortly. So I think it’s a great success that the banks can get together and do this and it would be a great service which I think shows you the bank is making progress and you would have called prior, fintech.

A spokeswoman for the bank confirmed Dimon was referring to clearXchange in his reference to the app, but said she had no additional details. The app may turn out to be a clearXchange app, and if so it will ask for bank login information.

ClearXchange realtime payments are now live at several of the nation’s largest banks, including Chase, U.S. Bank, Bank of America, and will soon be live with Wells Fargo, Capital One, and others.

JPM’s effort is a clear attempt on the part of of the bank to counter fintechs. Dimon has a bit of a chip on his shoulder about Silicon Valley and fintech. His “Silicon Valley is coming” statement last year resounded across the financial services sector, and Dimon has continued to talk about fintech, referring in the bank’s 2015 annual report to financial technology startups as competitors, and last April criticizing fintech companies that want to access bank data.