JPMorgan Buys Nutmeg to Bolster Digital Banking Push in U.K.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to buy digital wealth manager Nutmeg Saving and Investment Ltd., part of a push to establish a retail banking presence in the U.K. Nutmeg, founded in 2012, has more than 140,000 customers and £3.5 billion under management, the equivalent of around $5 billion. A price for the acquisition wasn’t disclosed but a Wall Street Journal story said it was about $1 billion. JPMorgan said in January it would launch a new digital bank in the U.K., offering consumer banking services there for the first time. Called Chase, it is currently being tested internally with JPMorgan employees ahead of a public launch later this year.