JP Morgan has announced its end-to-end payments solution will power Volvo ’s new online direct to consumer sales model for first electric car roll out in India. In line with its ambitions to become an electric- only brand by 2030, Swedish luxury automaker Volvo Cars has rolled out the XC40 Recharge in India – the company’s first fully electric car made available to customers in the country exclusively via a new direct-to-consumer model that is powered by JP Morgan’s online payment gateway.

Integrated into the auto manufacturer’s website, JP Morgan’s payments solution allows Volvo’s customers to select, customise, and make down payments for their online car bookings through a range of digital payment methods. The outstanding balance is then facilitated through electronic fund transfers. In addition to the Merchant Services proposition, Volvo’s underlying flow uses JP Morgan’s virtual reference (VRN) solution, wherein each customer is assigned a unique VRN linked to their purchase order number, allowing for payments to be made synchronously both via the online payment gateway and electronic fund transfers - which are then collected and reconciled.

For Volvo, the automated solution provides detailed reporting and insights into customer behaviours. It also helps reduce counterparty risk by allowing the company to work with a single global banking provider. With the success of the India pilot, Volvo wants to expand the new online sales and payments model to other regions.

JP Morgan reaches far and wide The banking company has been evolving, diverging its activities, and investing in new businesses recently. JP Morgan’s UK banking arm Chase has recently overhauled its app with a new design that lays the groundwork for its push into the investment space. The new app’s ‘Save & Invest’ (launched in January 2023), which now is just Chase’s savings account and roundups, also has a tile dedicated to Nutmeg, the robo-investment platform that JP Morgan acquired in 2021.

When it comes to investments, JP Morgan helped the risk control data network Acin to close on a USD 24 million Series B funding. Acin’s platform helps financial institutions to digitise their operational and non-financial risk analysis, using data analytic capabilities. The company has established a network that calibrates data and facilitates the sharing of best practice between firms, underpinned by a standardised library of risks and controls.

The company also got involved in Socure’s USD 95 million three-year credit facility. Socure is a provider of digital identity verification and fraud solution. The company wants to use the new line of credit to strengthen its financial position as it continues its ambition to be the sole solution provider to verify 100% of good identities in real-time and eliminate identity fraud on the internet.

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