JPMorgan Chase is set to enter Germany’s retail banking sector in the second quarter of 2026 to become one of the country’s top five consumer lenders, reported Financial Times (FT), citing Chase’s Germany head Daniel Llano Manibardo.
This move follows JPMorgan’s earlier expansion of its digital retail banking services to the UK in 2021 and represents the next phase of its European growth strategy.
Llano Manibardo, in an interview, told FT: “Our ambitions are high, even as he acknowledged that making money from Europe’s biggest, wealthiest market would not be easy. In the long run, we want to be among the top five players in every market we enter.”
According to the FT report, Germany’s retail banking market is highly competitive, with large institutions such as Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, and ING.
The market also includes several public savings and co-operative banks.
Despite the established players, JPMorgan intends to challenge for significant market share through its digital-only Chase offering, said the publication.
Llano Manibardo said: “Germany doesn’t lack banks, and that gaining real scale would be the key to success.
“We did a lot of pre-analysis to understand the market. Now we are really pushing the pedal, building the bank”, he added.
The proposed digital bank will start its retail operations in Germany, with the savings account as its initial product offering.
Currently, Chase employs approximately 120 staff in Germany, and its new headquarters in Berlin, set to open next month, can host up to 400 employees.
As a large-scale foreign bank in Germany, JPMorgan offers commercial banking, investment banking, asset management, and wealth management.
The company has traditionally avoided launching international retail banking ventures due to the expense of building physical branch networks.
However, Chase has attracted more than two million customers in the UK since its launch, using its digital platform and offering integrated services, said the report.
Last month, Llano Manibardo, through a post on LinkedIn, announced the company’s plans to launch its digital retail bank in Germany.
