Chime adds investing feature for stocks and ETFs

Chime has added an investing service to its banking app, giving members the ability to buy stocks and exchange-traded funds alongside existing spending and savings tools. The company said Chime Invest will allow users to begin with as little as $1 and will offer expert-managed portfolios for members who do not want to select investments themselves.

The product, announced Monday, extends Chime’s consumer finance platform into a market used by many large banks, brokerages and financial technology companies to keep customers within a single account relationship. For Chime, the launch adds a wealth-building feature to an app already used by millions of members for day-to-day money management.

Chime said in its announcement that about 40% of Americans report holding no stock, which it described as a barrier to participation in a long-established channel for building wealth over time. The company also cited an internal member survey that found users often see investing as difficult to begin because they lack time to study markets, have more immediate uses for their cash or are concerned about the cost of professional advice.

Chime Invest is designed to address those points by combining low minimums with managed portfolios, according to the company. In that model, members can allocate money through the app while portfolio decisions are handled by professionals, rather than requiring users to choose individual securities or funds on their own.

“The hardest part of investing is often getting started and sticking with it,” Chime co-founder and chief executive Chris Britt said in the announcement. “Millions of people already trust Chime with their money every day. By bringing investing into the app they already know and love, we’re making it easier to turn saving into investing and investing into long-term wealth.”

The move comes after Chime reported its first quarter of GAAP profitability as a public company, according to PYMNTS’ coverage of the company’s May earnings. PYMNTS reported at the time that Chime posted 25% year-over-year revenue growth, exceeding its own guidance and analyst estimates.

Britt told investors then that Chime had reached 10.2 million active members and that more Americans were opening bank accounts with Chime than with any other financial institution, according to PYMNTS. He said that position put Chime more than 50% ahead of its closest competitor.

PYMNTS wrote in May that Chime’s results showed financial technology companies can continue to grow at scale, while also noting broader questions about whether such firms can retain speed and consumer trust as they expand into more institution-like financial services. Chime Invest places the company further along that path by adding investing to its existing banking app functions.

This story draws on original reporting from PYMNTS.