JP Morgan last month rolled out MorganOnline, its new online private banking offering. Although the minimum account opening size is US$10,00...

JP Morgan last month rolled out MorganOnline, its new online private banking offering. Although the minimum account opening size is US$10,000, JP Morgan is pitching the service at millionaire clients offering extensive brokerage services. The annual charge for the service is US$2,500, which includes 24 online stock trades. Services include: Stock and options brokerage; 10,000 mutual funds; Access to IPO service; Consolidated reports on all portfolio holdings, including those with other providers; Intraday stock valuations; Tools to establish short- and long-term wealth management goals, asset allocation models, wealth projections and cash flow probabilities; Access to JP Morgan research; Using push technology, users can receive email alerts or online notice of information related to their wealth management goals; Links to JP Morgan’s referral network for tax and estate planning and insurance services; Users can also view a calendar or receive alerts on JP Morgan educational events. With this new offering, JP Morgan is going head-to-head with the online brokers, with the site structured as a trading platform, rather than a portal to the bank’s full range of services. There is less focus on the site on cash management services, such as bill payment, which are available on other bank Web sites. There is also less online information on estate planning and other wealth management services that would likely attract clients to use the referral links to the bank’s advisors in these areas. To market the MorganOnline, the bank also signed agreements with 16 of professional organisations, such as the Chicago District Golf Association, the University Women’s Professional Group and companies such as Digex, Multex.com and the RiskMetrics Group to provide the service to selected employees. Using Internet technology to develop a “captive” client network is being pioneered by a number of U.S. firms to build marketshare in the wealth management arena. PNC Bank, the private banking arm of PNC Bank Corp., has also made significant moves in this area. In a separate announcement last month, JP Morgan entered an agreement with MBNA America Bank to provide credit card facilities to its private banking and MorganOnline customers. The bank has also signed up for Janna Systems’ eRM, relationship management software, which allows banks to synchronise customer contact across a range of distribution channels, including the Internet. Arrakis the dedicated software development division of JP Morgan Advisory Services that developed MorganOnline, has stated however, that the service will be enhanced over time. Incidentally, Arrakis is the name of the remote planet in science fiction fabled as a source of great wealth.