NEW YORK—Chase has introduced Chase Pay, a mobile wallet that partners with the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX).
Competing with other digital wallets such as Apple Pay, PayPal and Android Pay, Chase Pay will work via QR code instead of over NFC--Apple Pay’s POS method. Users will make purchases with their smartphones by showing a QR code to a cashier, which is the payments method for MCX’s upcoming CurrentC platform.
Chase will become part of MCX, and reports indicate that within some MCX merchants Chase Pay customers will be able to pay by showing a QR code within the Chase Pay app, while in other stores they will have to use Chase Pay inside the CurrentC app.
Chase Pay and CurrentC are expected to launch in mid-2016.
The MCX Consortium consists of collection of merchants like Walmart, Target, Sunoco, Kohl's, Best Buy, Rite Aid, CVS, Lowe's, Sears, Shell, Michaels, 7-Eleven, and more. Once available, CurrentC will be available as a payment option in all of these retail locations, as will Chase Pay.
In a statement, Chase said Chase Pay addresses some of merchants’ biggest challenges – cost of payment, merchant fraud liability and speed of checkout. Chase said:
- The POS system works with technology that many merchants already have – the same technology used to scan gift cards.
- Chase Pay connects a merchant’s loyalty program directly into the payment experience.
- Since it is a closed-loop system, costs of accepting payments will be lowered through fixed pricing.