EPISODE · May 27, 2025 · 5 MIN
The Bank That Outgrew Banking
from Competitive Compass · host Anuj Shahani
Fulcrum Thought: Are we building a set of products,or an ecosystem that customers can live inside?Chase’s Investor DayI listened and read through Chase’s Investor Day slides and it feels like a Business Tale for the Boardroom.Once upon a fiscal year, there was a very large bank named Chase. It was already the biggest and busiest in the land, with over 84 million loyal customers and many gold stars on its financial report card. But one day, Chase looked around and thought, “Is this all there is to banking?” And so, it began to dream a bigger dream; not just to be a bank, but to become something more.It started small, as all big things do. Chase built a travel company (right inside the bank!), and soon, it became the third biggest in the country (24% CAGR). Then it launched a media business, Chase Media Solutions (29% CAGR), where merchants could whisper special offers into customers’ apps. People loved it. They used their cards more. They traveled more. They stayed longer. They came back. And with each turn of the flywheel, the bank grew smarter, stickier, stronger. Everyone, from first-time cardholders to seasoned Sapphire Reserve travelers, found something just right for them. Now, the other banks in the land watched carefully. They saw Chase wasn’t just adding features; it was building a new kind of ecosystem.One that rewarded loyalty, monetized attention, and personalized everything. And while Chase’s moat got deeper, so did the opportunity for others to learn. Because when one bank grows the category, everyone else gets the chance to play a smarter, better game. And that, dear reader, is how a bank stopped acting like a bank and started building the future. Because in a world where one bank builds a flywheel, the others can build engines too.And the next chapter? That’s still unwritten—by anyone bold enough to imagine beyond the balance sheet.
What this episode covers
Fulcrum Thought: Are we building a set of products,or an ecosystem that customers can live inside?Chase’s Investor DayI listened and read through Chase’s Investor Day slides and it feels like a Business Tale for the Boardroom.Once upon a fiscal year, there was a very large bank named Chase. It was already the biggest and busiest in the land, with over 84 million loyal customers and many gold stars on its financial report card. But one day, Chase looked around and thought, “Is this all there is to banking?” And so, it began to dream a bigger dream; not just to be a bank, but to become something more.It started small, as all big things do. Chase built a travel company (right inside the bank!), and soon, it became the third biggest in the country (24% CAGR). Then it launched a media business, Chase Media Solutions (29% CAGR), where merchants could whisper special offers into customers’ apps. People loved it. They used their cards more. They traveled more. They stayed longer. They came back. And with each turn of the flywheel, the bank grew smarter, stickier, stronger. Everyone, from first-time cardholders to seasoned Sapphire Reserve travelers, found something just right for them. Now, the other banks in the land watched carefully. They saw Chase wasn’t just adding features; it was building a new kind of ecosystem.One that rewarded loyalty, monetized attention, and personalized everything. And while Chase’s moat got deeper, so did the opportunity for others to learn. Because when one bank grows the category, everyone else gets the chance to play a smarter, better game. And that, dear reader, is how a bank stopped acting like a bank and started building the future. Because in a world where one bank builds a flywheel, the others can build engines too.And the next chapter? That’s still unwritten—by anyone bold enough to imagine beyond the balance sheet.
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The Bank That Outgrew Banking
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