*By Tanaya Macheel*
JPMorgan Chase is bringing Sapphire to banking, betting it can change affluent millennial customers’ perception of the industry the same way it won them over with its credit cards.
“We’ve built a loyal following of customers through our Sapphire brand and are excited to extend that relationship to banking, not just through access to events and experiences that our customers love, but perks on everyday banking and investing,” a bank spokeswoman told Cheddar.
Next Monday, the largest U.S. bank by assets will launch Sapphire Banking without ATM or foreign exchange fees, unlimited free trades on the stock and ETF trading app it announced Tuesday (and will also launch on Monday), and access to “special experiences” that helped make the Sapphire Reserve and Preferred credit cards such a success, like access to sports and entertainment hospitality lounges and early ticket sales and special seating for sports and entertainment events.
Chase unveiled the Sapphire Reserve card in 2016, when anti-bank sentiment among the under-40 crowd was at its peak. At the time, seemingly no one in the industry thought the demographic wanted credit cards. The belief was that the generation, saddled with student debt and having felt the effects of the financial crisis on their families, was pretty strictly anti-debt. But Sapphire proved that theory wrong, beginning an arms race among competitors including Citi and AmEx to improve their own rewards offerings.
On top of that, in second quarter earnings reports Chase and Citi both reported increased spending on credit cards but declines in revenue, indicating that consumers love their cards but are keeping balances lower or paying them off faster, which isn’t good for the banks.
Whether or not the incentives are enough to make people switch their bank account providers to Chase remains to be seen, but the bigger concern for the company is whether or not it [can bring deposits back](https://cheddar.com/videos/jpmorgan-to-unveil-new-investing-app) into the bank.
Customers rarely “switch” checking account providers but instead open multiple accounts. Today, however, banks aren’t competing against other banks for those deposits ー they’re competing against fintech firms, retailers, and anyone else with a mobile wallet. For example, there are $2 billion in customer deposits sitting idly in Venmo accounts and another $2 billion in customers’ Starbucks apps — not to mention Amazon Prime Reload, PayPal, Robinhood, Acorns, and, increasingly, Coinbase.
Next week, existing customers with Chase Premier Platinum accounts, which require a minimum balance of $75,000, will be automatically upgraded. Those holding less in deposits can still sign up for the account for a $25 monthly fee — that’s $300 annually, which is $150 less than the charge on the Sapphire Reserve card.
Consider it the Prime Effect coming to banking. Chase is betting that affluent millennials will be willing to pay upfront if they’re assured that, in return, they’ll get value that will continue to build as Chase adds more services, effectively becoming a lifestyle membership rather than a purely financial one.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
