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JP Morgan UK’s new ‘Chase’ bank account pays 1% cashback and 5% AER on ’rounded-up’ savings

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Chase is app-only, which means you’ll need a smartphone to open and operate it. In addition, while you can make purchases on your debit card (it won’t have a card number printed on it for privacy reasons but you can view this at any point in the Chase app) you can’t yet set up direct debits, though JP Morgan plans to enable this by the end of the year. Cash held in Chase’s current account is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to a total of £85,000. However, it’s unclear if cash saved in the Chase’s linked savings account is also FSCS protected. Here’s a round-up of Chase’s key features:

It pays 1% cashback on most purchases for 12 months. You can transfer cashback from the ‘Rewards’ section of the Chase app to your main account balance whenever you like. The 12 months starts from the date you activate cashback in the app, so make sure you do this to start earning. Certain purchases aren’t eligible for cashback, such as gambling, but you can see a full list of exclusions on the Chase website.

It pays 5% AER variable interest on ’rounded-up’ savings. If you opt in for this perk, Chase will automatically round up every purchase you make up to the nearest pound and save the difference. For example, if you spend £9.55 at a supermarket, Chase will round this up to £10, and save 45p in a separate account. It’ll pay 5% AER variable interest on these amounts. This beats the current Top savings rates, though it’s only on amounts you’ve saved through the round-up feature, which means you can’t top it up with extra cash.

Interest is calculated daily and paid monthly into the savings account, and after a year the entire balance is transferred over to your main balance, though you can withdraw funds penalty-free before this. There’s no time limit on this feature, so you can keep saving after the first year – though as the rate is variable, the amount of interest you get could change in future.

It offers fee-free debit card use abroad. You won’t be charged any fees for making purchases or cash withdrawals outside the UK. While this isn’t unique for a challenger bank – competitors, such as Monzo and Starling, offer this too – it’s a nice feature to have if you’re planning to travel overseas. For more on the best debit cards to use on holiday, check out our Travel cards guide.

It gives you the ability to split your current account cash into different ‘jars’. These jars have their own separate current account number, and you can use your debit card to spend from the account of your choice by selecting which account to use via the app when you make payments. The idea is to help people with budgeting and saving.

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Monzo enables linking virtual Debit Cards to funds ring fenced in ‘Pots’ for specific types of expenditure

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Customers of UK neobank Monzo can now create virtual debit cards for specific kinds of expenditure that are linked directly to funds they have set aside for that purpose rather than to their main bank account. To date, Monzo customers have only been to make payments from such ring-fenced funds — known as Pots — by direct debit or standing order, but the bank is now adding the option of making in-person and online card payments directly from an individual Pot without the user first having to transfer funds back into their main account. The service is available to holders of Monzo Plus or Monzo Premium accounts and enables users to set up a virtual debit card to draw on funds they have set aside in a Pot for the purchase of a high-cost item such as a car, for regular payments such as utility bills and subscriptions, and for types of expenditure that they wish to monitor and limit to a set budget. Monzo Plus and Monzo Premium account holders can create and hold up to five digital cards — which are compatible with both Apple Pay and Google Pay — at any one time.

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4 missteps for banks to avoid when migrating payment services to the cloud

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As banks contemplate migrating payment services to the cloud, they should avoid some common mistakes to ensure a smoother journey:

  • Assuming the cloud is cheaper. Cloud-based services are indeed less expensive to run — once applications and services have been migrated. To manage a successful payments migration, be aware of the costs along the journey. While banks and financial services providers often consider themselves proficient at consolidation and rationalization, the extensiveness required for cloud migration frequently far exceeds the effort of previous initiatives. A bank reduced its infrastructure footprint by 25% and lowered its total cost of ownership by migrating its applications to the cloud.
  • Underestimating the amount of prework. The cloud promises to reduce complexity but getting to that point takes a thoughtful migration plan that’s complete and doesn’t skimp on details. For instance, fund disbursements for a retail consumer bank that administers 529 plans are typically a low-volume service for which cloud automation is a great fit, replacing paper checks with significantly less costly cloud-based payments.
  • Failure to prioritize. A payments migration needs to be phased in a way that provides strategic competitive advantage.  For example, a bank may choose to align its payments migration with a specific strategy, such as a planned de-emphasis on branch offices. Another approach is to migrate the costliest payment applications first. Some banks may reserve cloud adoption for when they’re ready to add new payments capabilities.
  • Testing in a dissimilar environment. Performance falls short of expectations, typically due to the tangle of payment applications resulting from years of mergers and acquisitions. For example, post-merger banking platforms often utilize more than one legacy payment hub, and there’s little chance that a bank’s current IT staff fully understands or can predict the unintended consequences for the hubs when making changes to the platform.

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Toolkit allows accessibility testing to be baked in alongside other mobile UI automation tests

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  • Digital accessibility firm Evinced has announced a new suite of tools that will make mobile app accessibility testing faster, easier and more reliable than ever before. Evinced’s latest toolkit consists of a two-part solution comprising free and paid elements. The solution works across both iOS and Android apps and can be audited on actual devices, using emulators or a device cloud. Evinced’s free product know as Flow Analyser can be deployed by any tester, even those without specialized knowledge of accessibility and software development, and can quickly identify common accessibility fails simply by connecting a phone to a computer running Evinced’s desktop client, firing up the target app and running a scan. The paid solution for enterprise customers – Automation for Mobile is a tool for app developers that allows accessibility testing to be baked in alongside other mobile UI automation tests.
  • This enables an accessibility scan to run automatically each time a developer modifies an existing feature or adds a new one. Should common fails be detected like missing Alt Text on images or incorrectly labeled buttons the tool will notify the developer of the issues at hand before they commit to the new code. Evinced plans to continue improving and refining the toolkit over time and in the next stage is hoping to go beyond standard accessibility checklist items to look more closely at interactive elements like how an app behaves if a user zooms in or alters the font size.

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Wealthfront’s “Downside Defender,” auto-sells stocks and buy bonds when portfolio is at preset minimum

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For many years, companies that offered robo advising were leery of allowing too much human tinkering with the low-cost ETF portfolios that were their core offering. The approach was largely “set it and forget it” investing in passive, low-cost index funds or ETFs. Now the pendulum is swinging toward allowing users more personalization and flexibility. This past year, Wealthfront gave clients access to a wider array of socially responsible investments, as well as more of Cathie Wood’s ARK funds, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust BTC and Grayscale Ethereum Trust. The two crypto funds, which carry high fees of 2% and 2.5%, respectively, are the most popular funds on Wealthfront’s platform. Robos are getting creative with new services. Wealthfront’s “Self-Driving Money” divvies up cash between different accounts for different pre-set goals, and will alert customers if they have excess cash that they might want to invest. Another new feature rolled out recently is Edelman Financial Engines’ “Downside Defender,” where clients set a minimum level for their account value, and as their portfolio approaches that number, the portfolio automatically sells stocks and buy bonds. Even low-cost index fund giant Vanguard is taking a more active stance, announcing recently that it would launch three new active funds later in 2021 that would only be available on its its hybrid robo platform.

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This ransomware-dropping malware, is now being spread through web injection malicious Google ads

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Zloader malware, a tool often used to deliver ransomware, is now being spread through malicious Google ads. ZLoader is a banking trojan which uses web injection to steal cookies, passwords and any sensitive information. But it is also used to deliver ransomware and provides attackers with backdoor capabilities and the ability to install other forms of malware. ZLoader operators are buying Google keyword ads to distribute various malware strains, including the Ryuk ransomware. The techniques aren’t new but using Google to distribute links to malicious domains is notable because billions of people use Google. The attackers also registered a fraudulent company in order to cryptographically sign the malicious files, which claims to install a legitimate Java-based app but instead deliver ZLoader, giving the attackers access to affected devices. Signing the apps helps avoid detection from anti-malware systems. This malware campaign primarily targets customers of Australian and German banks.

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No-code tool transforms PDFs into digital webforms that streamline digital data collection

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Paperwork automation platform Anvil has launched Workflows, a no-code tool that helps companies remove the complexity and frustration from paperwork and endless PDFs. Anvil’s Workflows transform PDFs (or sets of PDFs) into digital webforms that streamline digital data collection, select the appropriate documents to complete, prepare those documents, request signatures, and finally share the completed, signed PDFs and data wherever they need to go – all from a single, secure link. Anvil Workflows automate all parts of document process management, from requesting data to document preparation to e-signatures and data integrations that eliminate data-entry. The tool employs a powerful logic engine to ensure that interlinked forms are filled out properly and repetitive entries of the same information on multiple documents are eliminated. This means no email back-and-forth, fewer mistakes, less frustration, and more time to spend on important matters. Anvil Workflows are powerful yet simple to create. The Anvil workflow creator is designed to give non-technical employees the power of programming all from an intuitive interface.

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MX adds income, employment, pay stubs, identity, time and attendance to power earned wage access

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Financial data platform MX is pairing up with payroll connectivity API firm Pinwheel to help FinTech customers switch direct deposits and expedite income verification. The MX and Pinwheel partnership expands coverage of income verification, improves underwriting models for better lending decisions and provides better financial guidance for customers. MX’s financial data platform allows organizations to verify accounts for Automated Clearing House (ACH) and real-time payments (RTP) with enhanced customer transaction data. The combination of MX and Pinwheel adds data fields including income, employment, pay stubs, identity, time and attendance to identify clients with high value, find cross-selling opportunities and power earned wage access. With Pinwheel, customers have the ability to set up direct deposits, or when necessary, a direct deposit transfer to remove friction, facilitate financial guidance and for better lending decisions. Pinwheel’s real-time, direct-from-source employment data can be used by employers for verification and to help them make better credit decisions. MX’s bank transaction data allows lenders to flag high-risk activity, including non-sufficient funds (NSFs) and existing loan repayments.

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Barclays hires Amazon payments head to lead BNPL POS finance business

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Barclays has hired Amazon’s head of European payments Antony Stephen to lead the bank’s foray into the booming buy now, pay later market. Stephen will be joining the Group as the new chief executive officer (CEO) for the Barclays Partner Finance (BPF) business, and its legal entity, Clydesdale Financial Services Ltd (CFSL). As CEO, Stephen will focus on scaling the point-of-sale finance business in the UK, and providing senior leadership to Barclays Cubed, the bank’s next-generation commerce platform. Designed to provide an end-to-end shopping exchange between Barclays’ customers and SME and corporate clients, Cubed forms a key part of the bank’s £900m income growth opportunity in payments, announced earlier this year. At Barclays he will report to Ruchir Rodrigues, head of barclays Cubed & Consumer Bank Europe, with a focus on growing the point-of-sale finance business in the UK.

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Goldman invests in livestream video shopping app that melds interfaces of QVC, Twitter and Twitch

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Startup NTWRK, is a video shopping app that has helped to popularize the idea of livestreamed commerce in the U.S. The company has been working to capitalize on the growing interest in live commerce and creator content, and shifted into live virtual events and festivals during the pandemic. Aimed at a younger crowd of Gen Z and millennial consumers, NTWRK offers tools that allow creators to interact with viewers and sell products in real time, in what’s been called a mix of QVC, Twitter and Twitch. The experience blends commerce with entertainment, as viewers watch and chat with other viewers and hosts in real time, as they shop for streetwear, shoes, collectibles and other items. The company has also created its own exclusive content. Its business model extends beyond just offering live video shopping that you can tune into at any time, as it also regularly features product drops that work to build up anticipation and excitement. NTWRK has also embraced live events and virtual festivals as another way to engage audiences. This summer, NTWRK also embraced the world of digital goods with the launch of NTWRK NFT, its own curated shop for unique crypto art.

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