JPMorgan Chase to buy UK robo-adviser Nutmeg

JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced Thursday its purchase of Nutmeg, a U.K.-based independent digital wealth manager, in a move that forms the bedrock of the bank’s retail digital wealth management offering across the pond.

The acquisition, subject to regulatory approvals, is meant to complement the launch of Chase as a digital bank in the U.K. later this year, Nutmeg CEO Neil Alexander said in a blog post addressing the purchase.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Upon closing, Alexander and the Nutmeg executive team will continue to run the business and will work alongside Chase in the U.K., according to the announcement.

“We are building Chase in the U.K. 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,” said Sanoke Viswanathan, CEO of international consumer at JPMorgan Chase.

Nutmeg, founded a decade ago, provides investments, products and wealth management services for over 140,000 investors, Alexander said. The fintech manages more than $4.9 billion in assets.

“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 our investors,” Alexander said.

JPMorgan’s acquisition of Nutmeg comes on the heels of its latest fintech purchase of 55ip in December in a deal that expanded access to model portfolios and automated tax technology for the bank's network of advisers.

The purchase of 55ip was announced just two months after the asset manager partnered with the fintech to allow advisers to transition clients into J.P. Morgan model portfolios using 55ip’s automated tax technology, which employs algorithms to offer tax-smart investment strategies, asset transfers, withdrawals and portfolio management.