JPMorgan Closes Finn, Digital-Only Bank, a Year After Launch

(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. is closing Finn, its digital-only bank, a year after rolling out the brand nationally to try to lure younger customers.

The biggest U.S. bank decided its consumer unit was better-equipped to meet those consumers’ needs under the Chase brand after finding that millennial customers don't necessarily want a separate digital experience, according to Pablo Rodriguez, a company spokesman. Clients started getting notifications Thursday that their accounts will be closed and funds will be transferred to Chase checking and savings accounts.

Finn, which JPMorgan started offering nationally last June, featured a digital app as well as some access to a network of branches. As part of the switch, customers will have to download Chase’s mobile app and receive a new debit card, but account numbers won’t change, according to a notice sent to customers.

The Wall Street Journal reported the decision earlier Thursday.

With the reversal, JPMorgan is rejecting a strategy that lenders including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Ally Financial Inc. have been experimenting with as a way to reach younger customers and gather low-cost deposits without having to rely on physical branches.

JPMorgan had been trying to do both, but under different brands and through different mobile apps. Three months after introducing Finn in October 2017, it announced plans to expand its consumer bank nationally by opening 400 branches in new states for the first time in a decade.

Millennial Tastes

“We learned a lot with Finn, especially about the power of the Chase brand and what customers want from the Chase mobile app, both in markets where we have a retail footprint and where we don’t,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve also learned that our millennial customers don’t need a separate brand or experience.”

JPMorgan had never publicly provided figures about demand for the Finn offering and Rodriguez declined to comment on how many customers will be affected by the wind-down. He said more than half are already customers of Chase.

Employees that worked in customer service and technology for Finn will be moved to other projects at JPMorgan, Rodriguez said. He declined to say how many people worked on the program.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle F. Davis in New York at mdavis194@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Steve Dickson, Daniel Taub

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