September 13, 2022: -JPMorgan Chase decides to take a costs startup known as Renovite to fend off threats from fintech companies, which include Stripe and Block.

The bank, an influential player in the global payments arena, said that reaching Fremont, California-based Renovite will speed up its capability to roll out new offerings to merchants.

While JPMorgan is the biggest provider of merchant services by transaction volume, fast-growing upstarts, which included Stripe and Block, have increased the rankings in recent years, thanks to booming e-commerce sales and the proliferation of new payment methods. Merchant acquiring is a crucial, behind-the-scenes provider that makes the sellers accept in-person and online payments, keeping a small cut of each transaction.

Despite having a payments juggernaut that processes more than $9 trillion daily across several businesses, JPMorgan’s merchant acquiring revenue stalled in the previous year in part because it was behind in some e-commerce segments and offered lesser services than some fintech rivals, global payments chief Takis Georgakopoulos told investors in a May conference.

“Changing that picture is a bigger story behind our investments,” Georgakopoulos vowed.

The Renovite acquisition, reported by CNBC, is recent in a string of fintech deals made under CEO Jamie Dimon. Since JPMorgan has acquired at least five startups, from an ESG invested platform to a UK-based roboadvisor, on top, makes a series of smaller fintech investments.

Dimon has repeatedly raised the alarm regarding the threat fintech players pose to traditional banks in the highly competitive payments game.

Fintech players have used payment processes for merchants as a wedge to help them build ecosystems that have garnered eye-watering valuations. They have generally been more agile in enabling new payment methods, such as offerings from Klarna and Affirm.

Dimon is forced to defend his bank’s raised expenses this year as it plows billions of dollars into technology between a 25% stock slump driven by recession fears.

The Renovite deal, for terms that could not be determined, shows that the longtime CEO is undeterred by concealing that he’s spending too much on tech.