The US banking group is joining a trend brought about by intensifying competition and technology.

JP Morgan is joining an industry trend in pushing to attract more retail investors, feeling the pressure as competition heats up and as robo-advisor models invade traditional firms’ turf, reports say.

The largest US bank plans to launch a mobile brokerage platform next week that includes free research and some free trading to its millions of retail customers, reports said (sources: Bloomberg, Financial Times, other). The move comes after Fidelity Investments cut fees to zero on two new index funds earlier in August, and Vanguard Group said in July that it would offer almost 1,800 exchange-traded funds commission-free to online customers.

Family Wealth Report contacted JP Morgan for comment on the issue and may update this article later.

The Bloomberg report said that the idea of such a move has been entertained since 2016, when chief executive Jamie Dimon told investors that the bank was working on a way to offer free robo-investing. The newswire quoted Kelli Keough, JPMorgan’s global head of digital wealth management, as saying: “We were hearing from clients that they wanted to invest with us as they digitally banked with us.”

The service gives clients 100 free trades in the first year, free equity research and the ability to earn unlimited free trading, a spokesperson for the bank was quoted as saying. Clients can get 100 free trades every year if they maintain an account balance above $15,000, and Chase Private Client customers, or those with at least $250,000 in balances, get unlimited free trades, the spokesperson said.

There are already 47 million consumers already digitally engaged with Chase in some way; this is an opportunity to add to that with online trading and mobile trading for free, this publication understands.

The move is seen as putting pressure on organizations such as Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade.

The move also highlights a continued bifurcation of financial services, with some offering increasingly low-cost services, often embracing index-tracking funds to give market exposure, while on the other hand, regulations and client demands are encouraging a move towards more fee-driven advice and a move away from commission-driven sales models.