Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Two the nation’s biggest banks on Friday reported gains in card volume, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. showing double-digit increases in merchant-processing volume as well as card spending.
Chase’s first-quarter merchant volume totaled $356.5 billion, a 13% increase over the same period in 2018. The massive Chase Merchant Services unit processes for an estimated 700,000 merchants and is the biggest acquiring processor in the country.
Volume on Chase’s debit and credit cards for the quarter totaled $255.1 billion, up 10%. The bank does not break out debit card results separately, but reported consumer credit card volume of $172.5 billion, also up 10%. It does not report commercial card activity.
At Wells Fargo & Co., debit card volume for the quarter came to $86.6 billion on 2.17 billion transactions, increases of 6% and 5%, respectively, from the first quarter last year. Total consumer credit card volume for the bank totaled $20.06 billion, with $18.3 billion in general-purpose card spending. These represented increases of 5%.
Wells also reported its active digital customers—those who interact with the bank online or via its mobile app—numbered 29.8 million, a 3% increase from a year ago. Of these, 23.3 million are active mobile users, up 7% from 21.8 million a year ago.
