Credit Card News
U.S. Bank, Edward Jones Announce New Strategic Partnership
A major bank and a popular financial services firm have announced an expanded strategic alliance.
About the partnership:
This week, U.S. Bank and Edward Jones revealed that they’ve entered into an updated partnership. As part of this collaboration, a line of co-branded deposit and credit card products will be introduced. These offerings are expected to be available to Edward Jones clients in the United States starting late next year. As U.S. Bank notes, this includes more than 8 million clients with more than $2 trillion of assets under management.
Edward Jones highlights that clients will be able to access their accounts within the firm’s app and website. This includes key banking features, such as a digital wallet, mobile check deposit, bill pay, transfers, and more. The firm also stated that the new co-branded credit cards will be “enhanced” and are currently being developed “based on client feedback.”
News of this deal comes as both companies have grown their roster of partners. In the case of Edward Jones, the firm has been working with MoneyGuide and Salesforce. Meanwhile, U.S. Bank recently announced a partnership with family banking platform Greenlight, giving eligible customers complimentary access to the app’s children and teen banking tools.
What they’re saying:
In a press release announcing the expanded alliance, Edward Jones’ U.S. Business Unit and Branch Development head David Chubak said, “Strengthening our saving, spending and borrowing offerings will help us serve more clients more completely. U.S. Bank is our current partner for our credit card offering.”
Chubak added, “Expanding our already successful partnership will help us scale the impact for our clients across the U.S. Both of our firms prioritize a people-first approach and are committed to continually evolving to serve clients’ needs now and in the future.”
U.S. Bank’s head of consumer and business banking products Arijit Roy stated, “U.S. Bank and Edward Jones share a mission to improve the financial lives of our clients. Working together, we look forward to helping more clients achieve their financial goals with simple and easy to use banking solutions.”
My thoughts:
First, looking at Edward Jones’ current credit card offerings, I can see why an overhaul “based on client feedback” would be needed. For example, their Edward Jones World Mastercard simply earns 1% back on purchases while the Edward Jones World Plus Mastercard earns 1.5% back by default, bumping that up to 2% back after spending $20,000 per year on the card. Compared to other flat-rate cards on the market, that’s downright pitiful.
Now that I have that off of my chest, this seems like a natural and, yes, strategic partnership for U.S. Bank and Edward Jones. I do wonder why it’s going to take more than a year to get these features off the ground (but I suspect that it has something to do with current contracts). When they do finally launch, I’ll be interested to see what the two companies have cooked up.