JPMorgan Targets POS Market with QuickAccept Card Reader

Need to Know

• JPMorgan Chase has launched a smartphone card reader and app, in direct competition with payment facilitators such as Square and PayPal.
• QuickAccept lets merchants accept card payments either through a mobile app or a contactless card reader.
• The service is free; competitors such as Square typically charge a 1.5% fee.
• JPMorgan will soon migrate many of its more than three million small business customers to QuickAccept.

Analysis

JPMorgan Chase has launched a new product, QuickAccept, which allows businesses to accept payments using a card reader or mobile app.

The launch of QuickAccept comes from JPMorgan’s business branch, Chase for Business, and is part of the launch of Business Complete Banking, a new chequing account for small businesses.

The service, which is free, is a direct competitor to existing services such as Square, Clover, and PayPal. With a chequing account that is paired with QuickAccept, merchants can take card payments within minutes; users will see sales reflected in their Chase business accounts on the same day. Unlike Square, which processes payments over a day and charges a 1.5% fee per transaction, QuickAccept is near-instant and costs users a flat, pay-as-you-go rate. Max Neukirchen, CEO of JPMorgan’s merchant services arm, said JPMorgan considers QuickAccept’s speed and lack of fee ” a great differentiator.”

“Especially in the challenging times we’ve seen in 2020, helping small business clients make every sale has been our priority,” Neukirchen continued. “We applaud small business owners’ creativity and support their ability to generate revenue in person, online and over the phone.”

JPMorgan the QuickAccept card reader internally, with the help of staff it gained from its 2017 acquisition of online payments provider WePay. The bank plans to transition a large portion of its more than three million small business clients to QuickAccept, specifically appealing to those that earn $500,000 a year, and would thus like to avoid paying transaction fees.

“We know there are obviously those that are using competitors’ products, we can see them settling into their deposit accounts,” said Jen Roberts, CEO of the Chase business banking unit. “Our hope is that through this more integrated experience, they will migrate their business over to QuickAccept through Business Complete Banking.”

JPMorgan is moving in on Square’s territory with a card reader shortly after Square announced its intentions to open a bank in 2021. Square was given approval to do so in March of this year and plans to focus on the merchants already using its payment processing services. These announcements come as big banks and fintechs continually blur the lines between what “traditional banking” looks like in the financial industry.

It’s been a big year for JPMorgan, as the investment bank has diversified its offerings to include better fraud protection, the ability to leverage loyalty programs, such as frequent-flyer points, into assets, and even a chequing account for children. The company is also planning an overseas expansion, announcing its intentions to launch a U.K.-based digital bank in early 2021 earlier this year.