JP Morgan buys Nutmeg for £700m

As part of the US bank’s expansion into the UK retail and investment market, JPMorgan Chase has bought digital wealth manager Nutmeg for £700 million. JP Morgan will also take over Nutmeg’s customer base of over 140,000 investors and over £3.5bn of assets under management.

When Nutmeg was launched in 2012, it aimed to upend the traditional wealth management market by offering lower cost for automated financial planning services and quickly became one of Britain’s best known financial technology companies and robo-advisers. Since the beginning of their journey, Nutmeg has attracted the interest of venture capitalists, institutional investors, international and global leaders in the financial services sector. According to the announcement, the firm aims to become a full-service retail bank under its Chase brand, competing with Goldman Sachs’ consumer Brand Marcus.

The products and services our customers currently enjoy from Nutmeg will be unaffected and, as the deal completes later in the year after approvals are received, JPMorgan Chase and Nutmeg will be working closely on further developing our offering to the benefit of their investors.  

Commenting on the acquisition, Sanoke Viswanathan, CEO of International Consumer at JPMorgan Chase, said: “We are building Chase in the UK from scratch using the very latest technology and putting the customer’s experience at the heart of our offering, principles that Nutmeg shares with us. We look forward to positioning their award-winning products alongside our own and continuing to support their innovative work in retail wealth management.”  

Neil Alexander, chief executive of Nutmeg added: “Nutmeg’s customers can expect the same level of transparency, convenience and service that helped make us a leading digital wealth manager in the UK.

“I am truly impressed with the digital experience that Chase is building for the UK, and this new chapter in our story will see Nutmeg’s customers benefit from a wider range of products and services in the future, and allow us to expand into new markets.”