At JPMorgan Chase’s investor day they had a strategic update, the whole PDF is worth a read to see the direction Chase is heading (digital digital digital) but they also released some interesting statistics regarding the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
- Average income: $180,000
- Average FICO score: 785
- Average annual sales volume (card spend): $39,000
- Sales active rate (number of cards with greater than zero gross sales divided by total open accounts): 96%
- Renewals: 90%+
The presentation also touched on the value of these cardholders and the ability to cross sell them other products and services. They have run a pilot program for converting Chase Sapphire Reserve customers into Chase Private Client customers and also mortgage customers, with CFO Marianne Lake saying to expect more of this in 2018. I’m still shocked by the retention rates on this card being above 90% given the $450 annual fee. I don’t think this card makes sense to keep long term for most cardholders, but obviously the market disagrees. Those retention rates are as of December 2017 though, I wonder if we will see a drop off in retention after January as people grand fathered into the travel credit per calendar year downgrade/cancel their cards.
They also touched on their new branch strategy and renewals of Hyatt, Disney & Marriott portfolios. I always like to read these types of strategy documents and statistics, it gives you a better sense of how large the outside business is compared to our relatively small hobby and helps to give perspective. If Chase is really that confident in the renewal rates and turning those cardholders into CPC & mortgage customers, they should bring back the 100,000 offer ;).
