HOW THEY MAKE MONEY // SEASON 1, EPISODE 11 INTELLIGENCE REPORT
JPM 5/14 ACTIVE GATES

What does JPMorgan Chase Really Sell?

On the outside, it is easy to assume that JPMorgan Chase makes money by charging checking account maintenance fees, processing ATM withdrawals, and issuing retail mortgages. That is what is SEEN.

THE SEEN ENGINE
$6.88B

Deposit-Related Fees & Account Charges

The retail checking account service charges, overdraft fees, and cash management fees collected directly from consumers and business clients.

Source: JPMorgan Chase FY 2025 Form 10-K
THE UNSEEN ENGINE
$175.52B

Interest Spread, Investment Banking & Asset Fees

The high-margin earnings from net interest rate spreads on deposit float ($95.4B), investment banking commissions, asset management advisory, and market-making transactions.

Source: JPMorgan Chase FY 2025 Form 10-K

The real wealth is in what is NOT SEEN—how they leverage consumer and corporate deposits as near-zero-cost raw material to generate $95.4B in Net Interest Income spread float, while extracting high-margin transactional and advisory fees from investment banking advisory ($28B in CIB net income), asset management, and merchant credit card interchange rails.

But which money gates does JPMorgan Chase & Co. use to stack this cashflow? Click each ? to reveal how they use that gate.

AGENT // PROFIT OPENER THE SEEN (PHYSICAL/DIGITAL) THE UNSEEN (PHYSICAL/DIGITAL)
1. Products — —
2. Services
ACTIVE · SEEN Consumer & Business Checking Services Providing day-to-day transaction processing, cash management services, and account overdraft options to retail and corporate deposit clients. Source: Consumer & Community Banking division
—
3. Access —
4. Attention — —
5. Money —
6. Risk — —
7. Brand —
STEP 03

Strategic Translation

The underlying economic infrastructure driving this profit extraction design.

01

What is the explicit promise the customer buys?

Local bank branches, Chase credit cards, mobile banking apps, and ATM machines.

02

What asset is quietly accumulating as a result?

Custody over $2.4 Trillion in low-cost consumer and corporate deposits acting as interest-generating raw capital.

STEP 04

Author's Note

PO
Pelumi Ogunmokun FOUNDER // KAMPAIGN LABS

The Personal Take: Do not treat your core service (like maintaining accounts or checking facilities) as the primary profit center. Strip its cost down to use it as a massive, trusted capital-aggregation vacuum. Once you aggregate low-cost or zero-cost resources (such as client capital deposits, inventory float, or user data), monetize it on the backend by lending/investing it at a higher spread (Money) or cross-selling high-margin fee services like premium advisory and access products (Brand/Access).

SME Operational Conditions: Apply this when you operate in an industry where you can aggregate and hold customer funds or resources before delivering the final value, or where customer trust allows you to act as a custodian.

Local Brand Example: A property management company handles rental collections and security deposits for hundreds of landlords, charging near-zero service fees (Services - Physical) to win the contracts. They generate their real profits by holding the massive reserve security deposit cash float in short-term high-yield accounts (Money - Digital) and selling premium contractor maintenance packages to the landlords (Access - Physical).

Read Next: The 7 Money Gates →
📖 VIEW THE 14 PROFIT OPENERS FRAMEWORK GUIDE ▼
THE FRAMEWORK // FOR REFERENCE

The 14 Profit Openers Explained

Every business extracts revenue through some combination of these 14 channels — 7 openers, each available in a Physical and a Digital medium. Use this as your reading guide.

PROFIT OPENER PHYSICAL CHANNEL DIGITAL CHANNEL
01 Products Physical Product Sales Tangible goods manufactured, packaged, and sold via retail or direct channels. The classic storefront transaction. Digital Product Sales Downloadable assets, software, templates, or digital files sold as a one-time purchase with zero delivery cost.
02 Services Physical Service Delivery In-person labor, consultations, repairs, or expertise delivered at a physical location or on-site. Digital Service Delivery Remote consulting, virtual coaching, online fulfillment, or any service rendered and delivered through digital channels.
03 Access Physical Access Gate Memberships, entry passes, physical loyalty tiers, or location-based access privileges privileges sold on a recurring basis. Digital Access Gate Subscription plans, SaaS tiers, paywalls, or recurring digital membership fees that gate content or functionality.
04 Attention Physical Attention Capture Billboard placements, event sponsorships, in-store brand shelving, or any physical advertising inventory sold to third parties. Digital Attention Capture Ad revenue, sponsored placements, affiliate arbitrage, or monetizing an owned audience's attention through digital channels.
05 Money Physical Money Mechanics Upfront payment collection, deposit structures, or float optimization — holding cash from physical transactions before fulfillment. Digital Money Mechanics Payment processing spreads, digital float, BNPL integrations, or fintech revenue extracted from digital transaction flow.
06 Risk Physical Risk Coverage Extended warranties, in-store protection plans, insurance products, or physical asset guarantees sold alongside the core product. Digital Risk Coverage Digital warranties, SLA upsells, cybersecurity add-ons, or data backup subscriptions that monetize a customer's fear of loss.
07 Brand Physical Brand Licensing Trademark royalties, franchise licensing fees, co-branding deals, or physical branded merchandise sold to third parties. Digital Brand Licensing IP licensing, white-label software deals, digital co-branding arrangements, or platform platform placement fees paid for brand association.