JPMorgan targets affluent customers with a renewed focus on Chase Private Client

JPMorgan started heavily investing in Chase Private Client at the start of 2019 with 25% of all its TV ads dedicated just to Private Client.

What is Chase Private Client?

Chase Private Client is the company’s entry-level affluent program, open to customers who have $250,000 in assets across deposits and investments. Perks of the program include fee waivers on everyday banking needs, discounts on loans, and access to expert investment analysis. Additionally, members are assigned a Private Client Banker, Wealth Advisor and Specialists in loans and business.

It’s an uphill battle to get the wealthiest consumers to open new accounts

Of consumers who have $500k or more in assets to invest, only 1-3% express an intent to open any type of new investment account in the next year, according to Mintel research on affluent and high net worth investing.

For Chase specifically, they’ve captured only 1% of their target in the 12 years since the Private Client has been live, according to Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase CEO, during the 2019 Chase investor conference.

Is Chase abandoning customers on the other end of the scale?

On June 6, 2019, Chase announced that it would be canceling its Finn program. Developed with younger consumers in mind, Finn was a simple debit and checking account primarily accessed through an app. However, Chase did little marketing for Finn, less than .001% of its digital ad budget on Finn in contrast to 25% of their tv budget for the year around high net worth clients. Chase’s lack of marketing support for Finn shows a skew towards high net worth individuals.

Additionally, according to Bloomberg, around 50% of recent Chase branch closures have occurred in lower-income areas, while it opened the majority of new branches in affluent areas.

What we think

Chase is chasing a moving target with its newfound commitment to Private Client.

Affluent customers are an enticing customer set for any bank. Chase’s heavy focus on marketing to affluent customers, as well as branch closures and the canceling of Finn, reflects that they’re pushing for a higher-end customer.