Chase has gone from strength to strength – but can JPMorgan’s neobank take on the competition?

Chase announced last year that a million customers had signed up, adding up to some £10bn of deposits with JPMorgan’s UK neobank. According to the bank’s managing director, Shaun Port, it’s just the beginning. As he recently told City AM: “[Chase] hasn’t entered the market just to be a small challenger”.

But beyond racking up customers, data from YouGov BrandIndex UK shows that the bank has made headway in terms of its public perception over the past year. With the help of offers such as 1% cashback and a 3% savings account, Chase’s Impressions (which measure general sentiment towards a brand) went from a neutral 0.4 to a positive 6.0 (+5.6) between 1 April 2022 – 1 April 2023. It outperformed the average score for the banks and building societies sector, which went from 3.7 to 4.6 (+0.9) over the same period.

Similarly, looking at Quality scores for Chase show an improvement from 0.7 to 6.5 (+5.8) over the last year, compared to a sector-wide movement from 4.5 to 5.3 (+0.8), while Chase’s Value for Money jumped from -0.8 to 4.4 (+5.2), while the banking sector inched up from 0.4 to 1.1 (+0.7). JPMorgan’s digital challenger has also eclipsed the industry average in terms of Reputation scores, which track whether consumers would be proud or embarrassed to work for a brand. These measures went from 1.9 to 8.1. between April 2022 and 2023 (+6.2), while those for the sector went from 6.1 to 6.9 (+0.8).

While the mission to make Chase more than a challenger is ongoing, the brand has made clear progress over the last year. Whether it can build on this progress while it makes changes to some of those flashy early offers – the 1% cashback, for example, is to be capped at £15 a month from May 2023 and will require £500 in monthly deposits – remains to be seen, but it has certainly been a positive start.

This article originally appeared in City A.M.