Banking giant JPMorgan Chase may have more than just cards in mind if it’s bidding to take over tech behemoth Apple's credit card portfolio.
The nation's largest bank is likely looking to make inroads in servicing other Apple products, and market in other ways to Apple Card users as it tries to wrest control of the card portfolio from rival Goldman Sachs, according to consultants who follow the credit card industry.
"This could be an opportunity for them to have a really compelling digital bank solution that appeals to the users of Apple Pay and the Apple card base [which is] more of a younger millennial target market," said Tom Bell, senior advisor at the consulting firm AlixPartners.
David True, a partner at the consulting firm PayGility, agreed.
“All of a sudden, they’ll have a much bigger customer base that they can pitch their products to,” he said.
JPMorgan is in advanced talks to become Apple's new credit card partner, the Wall Street Journal reported on July 29, citing unnamed people familiar with the negotiations. No deal has been finalized, according to the Journal. Goldman Sachs holds about $20 billion in Apple Card balances, the newspaper reported.
Spokespeople for Goldman Sachs, Apple and JPMorgan declined to comment.
Apple’s annual revenue from its card business amounts to $50 million, according to analysts at Baird. That’s equal to a comparatively small portion of New York City-based JPMorgan’s annual revenue, which was $177.56 billion for 2024, according to its annual report.
But if JPMorgan succeeds in taking over the Cupertino, California-based tech giant’s credit card business, it will have access to demographic data on millions of Apple Card users, True suggested.
The bank could then use that information to market its banking products to a slew of potential new customers, he said. Apple has data on its customers that a new partner could use to better pitch new products and services, True explained. The tech company said in January 2024 that it had 12 million Apple Card users.
"The Apple demographic is pretty well-known," True said. JPMorgan has "myriad products, and now they've got many millions more customers who have Apple iPhone demographics and they can see what else those customers would be interested in."
JPMorgan is likely eyeing other parts of Apple's business, such as the digital wallet Apple Pay, said Richard Crone, chief executive of the payments advisory firm Crone Consulting.
"Winning the Apple card portfolio would give Chase a back door to Apple Pay's wallet rails," he said.
That's a potentially lucrative piece of business considering the hundreds of millions of people who use the digital wallet, Crone said.
Apple Pay had an estimated 65.6 million users in the U.S. and 616 million globally in 2024, according to research from bank card issuer Capital One.
