JPMorgan Wants to Provide Virtual Bank Accounts for Amazon and Airbnb Customers

JPMorgan has been working on a way to help online merchants provide banking services to their customers. The company has developed an e-wallet which targets tech giants such as Amazon, Lyft and Airbnb.

Matt Loos, a managing director for JPMorgan’s global payment strategy department, told Bloomberg, “A company’s biggest fear is that once they establish a commerce-type relationship, they can’t maintain the end-user, and they leave the ecosystem because they now have a direct relationship with the seller.” The e-wallet services could combat these issues.

Let’s say a customer buys a product on Amazon from XYZ Store. After receiving the product, the customer decides to buy additional items from the company. Instead of going back through Amazon, the customer goes to XYZ Store’s website and buys from them directly. Amazon misses out on future sales, even though they originated the relationship.

JPMorgan’s plan is to give these companies more ways to incentivize customers. Lyft, Airbnb and Amazon are all comprised of individuals or smaller companies working together on a platform. The companies can offer discounts, competitive loan rates, and other perks if they choose to “bank” with the platform. JPMorgan handles the payment processing, so they get paid. The tech company gets a better connection with the customer, so they get more sales. The customer gets the incentives from the offer, and in theory, everyone wins.

JPMorgan is developing this product specifically for the top 10 ecommerce and gig websites, such as eBay and Uber. The company says this could lead to faster refunds and smoother cross-border transactions, among other benefits.