JPMorgan Releases WebConnect

To increase customer satisfaction by offering self-service capabilities, JPMorgan Chase (New York; $1.2 trillion in assets) introduced WebConnect, a document management services Web site. The site acts as a reporting service that offers clients access to detailed data and reports from the bank's document custody system.

With the newly released service, WebConnect clients can log on to the site via the JPMorgan access portal (www.jpmorganaccess.com) and query the review and certification of the status of pools, loans and all types of loan documents.

The financial institution decided to release WebConnect after careful research and response from customers, according to Kevin Fisher, vice president, manager, document management services, JPMorgan Chase & Co. "We have done a lot of in-depth discussions with our clients and they have highlighted their need for a robust solution," says Fisher. "The business is about clients managing their collateral. This is one way to give them more comfort in managing that collateral."

The bank created the Web service with the idea of efficiency for customers as well as employees, according to Nathan McDonald, vice president and a U.S. technology delivery manager, JPMorgan Chase & Co. "From a technology perspective, the asset services business has been taking a lot of steps to have a more strategic plan for users internally and externally," says McDonald. "With anything done via the Web, it becomes easier for technology to build and deliver the solutions and more cost effective for the business. The move toward the Web has a lot of benefits, whether it be the overall cost of design or the maintenance."

The technology was created by a third-party provider, but at press time, JPMorgan could not release the name of the company that designed the service. According to McDonald, the vendor will provide some increased functionality with the future expansion of WebConnect.

"We have a strategic plan to move in certain directions," says McDonald. "There will be some proprietary functionality that the vendor will include. It is safe to say we are moving WebConnect into more of an imaging flow as well as adding more functionality to enhance messaging for our clients."