Another bank joins mobile payment team

The mobile payment arena keeps getting more crowded.



Two weeks after U.S. bank Capital One partnered with MasterCard and Visa to offer contactless mobile payment capability in its Capital One Wallet app, another major bank plans to offer a mobile payment app.



J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is launching Chase Pay, a tokenized mobile payment service for in-store, in-app and online purchases. Interestingly, Chase is partnering with MCX, a retailer-backed mobile payment consortium, as its premier partner.



While MCX includes retailers such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Shell, so far its CurrentC mobile payment solution has been restricted to pilots at participating stores. In addition, many of the retailers supporting MCX have backed away from initial pledges to refuse to accept Apple Pay.



Chase Pay will be available in mid-2016 to Chase’s customers across its 94 million credit, debit and pre-paid card accounts. Other features of Chase Pay include the ability to directly connect purchases with retailer loyalty programs, one-click purchases, and payment by taking a smartphone photo of a receipt in locations such as restaurants.



“Chase Pay solves a number of pain points for consumers and merchants,” said Gordon Smith, CEO of consumer & community banking at JPMorgan Chase & Co. “It will improve the customer experience and drive down the cost of payments.”



Chase Pay will be accepted wherever CurrentC is accepted, either directly or through the CurrentC app. Chase is also partnering with 17 technology vendors so that merchants who are not Chase Commerce Solutions clients can also participate in Chase Pay.



Although usage rates of more established mobile wallet solutions like Apple Pay and Android Pay are lower than many experts had expected, the wide availability of mobile payment will inevitably produce consumer acceptance. Whether CurrentC will hinder Chase Pay usage, or Chase Pay will boost the viability of CurrentC, remains to be seen.