JPMorgan's latest step to create 'Pan-European' retail bank

• Key insight: Chase is making moves to grow consumer banking in a notoriously competitive European market.
• Forward look: In the longer term, more U.S. banks may attempt to grow retail business globally.
• What's at stake: The regulatory landscape and technological innovations are making it easier for banks and fintechs to scale consumer businesses in new markets.

America's biggest bank is taking another step to scale up its consumer base in Europe, in one of the most competitive markets in the continent.
JPMorganChase announced Thursday that it plans to launch long-teased retail banking capabilities in Germany by the second quarter of 2026, expanding the company's international consumer strategy following its debut in the United Kingdom five years ago. The launch in Germany has been a long time coming, though the bank has been mum about specific timelines.

Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said in June that the long-term goal is a profitable, "Pan-European" digital bank.

"It wasn't meant just to be in one country or another," Dimon said at a company conference. "We will be adding products and services to that bank over time…I'm quite optimistic that it will be a good thing, more for the next generation than for the next five years."

And while analysts view the expansion as a well-planned move, progress will be slow. The bank will start its German foray with a savings account offering, eventually building out other capabilities.

Suryansh Sharma, a senior analyst at Morningstar, said that Chase's international retail business is at a "very early stage," but is positioned well to grow as it opens shop in the largest economy in Europe.

"I think it makes a lot of sense," Sharma said. "Starting with Germany — it's probably the right market, given the competitive landscape."

But 15 years ago, that wouldn't have been the case, Sharma said.

Germany is a notoriously fragmented banking market, due to what Dimon has referred to in the past as "anachronistic" regulations that have kept financial institutions less prone to consolidation than in many other countries (though not the United States).

But now, banks don't need to grow a brick-and-mortar footprint to take market share. Sharma said Chase has an edge because it's more profitable than many other European banks, and already laid a digital bank foundation in the U.K.

"We are not going to have branches or anything like that. It's all digital," said JPMorgan Vice Chairman Daniel Pinto last September. (Pinto served as chief operating officer until January of this year.) "And at some point, we will expand into the rest of Europe."

But in June, Dimon said that if there was logic for physical branches, he'd be open to it.

JPMorgan has been in Germany for more than a century, with a major presence in other lines of business, like investment banking. But the bank only began targeting international retail business a few years ago, as the regulatory environment and technology capabilities made a zero-branch roll-out possible.

Jason Goldberg, a managing director at Barclays, said in an interview that Chase's approach seems "methodical," rather than fast. He added that being fresh to a market comes with certain benefits, as well.

"There's no cannibalization to the existing franchise," Goldberg said. "They come in as the new kid on the block, and are able to compete a little bit more aggressively."

He added that learnings from the U.K. buildout could help Chase scale the business more quickly in Germany or make moves in other countries at a faster pace.

Since the launch of its consumer business in the U.K., Chase has reeled in more than 2.5 million customers, nearly $30 billion of deposits and a 2024 profit of 27 million in pounds.

And although the expenses of developing the digital bank have run up noninterest expenses, cash burn has been below expected levels, Pinto said last year. The bank also acquired U.K. wealth management platform Nutmeg in 2021.

"We need to do a lot of work to keep optimizing the operational size side of it, just to make it more effective and less high-touch and more low-touch and have a better client experience," Pinto said.

The bank is vying to take and keep market share from not only other megabanks, but also fintechs.

Sharma said in the longer term, there will probably be other U.S. banks attempting global retail expansions, though he thinks Chase is better-positioned due to massive bottom-line earnings and stronger tech platforms.

"In my mind, the most important limiting factor is what happens on the regulatory front," Sharma said. "So let's say JPMorgan goes into German retail banking and gets a material amount of share. I think there's a real chance that the regulators in those markets would get skeptical about banks from different countries trying to come up there and gain deposit share."

Plus, competition is steep with German and other non-American banks looking to ride the relatively stronger German economic environment. In June, BBVA of Spain launched its own digital bank in Germany.

Recent management shuffles at JPMorgan have also moved around the responsibility for its global retail strategy. Earlier this year, longtime leader Sanoke Viswanathan, who had been overseeing the international consumer strategy, left, and CEO of consumer and community banking Marianne Lake was tapped to take the torch. In June, the bank named Mark O'Donovan to be the head of its international consumer bank.

Chase will headquarter its German retail operations in Berlin, led by Daniel Llano Manibardo. Manibardo, who re-joined the bank in April after a two-decade hiatus, previously led retail banking at ING's German retail unit, one of the largest players in the country.

Manibardo said in a LinkedIn post that the bank will "empower German customers" through "a strong trusted brand, a top-class digital experience, competitive conditions, and personal customer support when needed."