Chase Paymentech, which processed a cool $655.2 billion in transactions in 2012 — about 5x as much as PayPal — is reaching out to small and midsize businesses with its Chase Mobile Checkout product.
Chase Mobile Checkout was piloted earlier this year, but rebooted for SMBs yesterday. The name “Chase Checkout” now covers the full suite of products.
SMBs are an increasing area of focus for FIs, and advances in technology, exemplified by Square, have made it easier to service this segment. The focus on mobile and small business is new for Chase, which has previously been geared toward serving merchants with point of sale solutions and processing payments online.
Chase has served small businesses in the past, but that was through a third-party provider. Chase Checkout it s proprietary solution.
Chase Checkout offers checkout functionality for mobile devices, retail points of sale, and e-commerce sites. The suite of payment products promises an end-to-end solution for SMBs, from a free card reader to a new mobile app, to online tools and point of sale devices. The service includes the requisite dongle for on-the-go charges.
Rates for the mobile service begin at 1.99% and $0.25 per transaction, plus a $9.95 monthly fee. Square’s fine print says its fee is 2.75% per swipe or $275 per month.
The dongle-and-app play certainly smacks of “me-too” and the field is already crowded with Square lookalikes with little hope of differentiation, but Chase Paymentech has the power and scale to move the needle. A representative from Chase points out that bank processes payments for Square, and has more robust 24/7 support.
Chase Paymentech, a division of JPMorgan Chase & Co., processed an estimated half of all global internet transactions last year, according to the company.