JPMorgan Chase has signed up retailer consortium MCX as a partner for Chase Pay, its new digital wallet leading the fight back against tech giants Apple, Google and Samsung in the increasingly crowded mobile money arena.
Covering in-store, in-app and online purchases, Chase Pay will be available in mid-2016 to Chase’s customers across its 94 million credit, debit and prepaid card accounts, working with almost all smartphones.
The MCX deal means that Chase Pay will be gradually rolled out at more than 100,000 retail locations owned by giants such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Shell. Users will be able to use the service either directly or through MCX's own CurrentC payments app, slated to launch next year.
Gordon Smith, CEO, consumer and community banking, JPMorgan Chase & Co, says: "Chase Pay solves a number of pain points for consumers and merchants. It will improve the customer experience and drive down the cost of payments."
Unlike Apple Pay and Android Pay, Chase Pay is eschewing NFC technology for instore payments in favour of a QR code-based system, which the bank says makes it easier and cheaper for merchants to roll out. In some places, like restaurants, consumers will be able to use their smartphone to take a picture of a receipt and pay. The firm also says that Chase Pay will be able to connect merchant loyalty programmes directly into the payment experience.
Most importantly in winning over MCX merchants, Chase is promising fixed pricing, with no extra fees - zero dollar network fees, merchant processing fees and fraud liability.
Mike Cook, SVP and assistant treasurer, Walmart Stores, says: "Featuring Chase Pay within the CurrentC app will give customers greater flexibility, convenience and value when they pay with their mobile device. This gives us an opportunity to simplify payments for Chase’s extensive customer base, deepen loyalty in a way only MCX can and enhance the customer experience through added services consumers expect from a mobile application."