Chase releases mobile business expenses app

Jot saves small business owners time in the back office by enabling them to easily track, categorize and organize business expenses in real-time from their iPhone® and Android™ mobile devices. With less time spent reconciling receipts, business owners can invest more time in the things they love and further manage and grow their businesses.

Jot will provide Ink from Chase customers a variety of mobile benefits, including the ability to:

* Receive text alerts within seconds of making a purchase with their Ink card;
* Immediately tag these purchases to custom categories on a mobile device or online;
* Enable employees to tag their business expenses;
* Immediately view all transactions on their account, including those of their employees, through their mobile device or online;
* Adjust employees' card spending limits in real-time via a mobile device; and
* Create and download reports into accounting software, including QuickBooks® and Excel®.

"Small business owners are innovative, passionate and hardworking, and Chase's dedication to partnering with these business owners comes from the belief that this group of entrepreneurs is an integral part of the American economy," said Richard Quigley, president of Ink from Chase. "Jot was designed with small business owners' immediate financial needs top of mind. Jot will enhance the finance-savvy business practices of small business owners, allowing for additional time and an improved focus on the passion and sense of accomplishment they have for their businesses."

To gauge the real value of mobile applications for small business owners, Ink from Chase partnered on a recent study with the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. The study*, which surveyed 300 small business owners, found that:

* American small business owners who are currently using a mobile application report saving an average of 5.6 hours per week.
* The use of mobile applications is currently saving an estimated 1.28 estimate estimated 1.28 million small business owners approximately more than 372 hours annually or nearly two full weeks, giving them more time to focus on growing their business.

"Small business owners are quickly adopting mobile technologies," said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. "Rapid innovations are encouraging small businesses to move away from computers and toward smartphones and tablets. Mobile applications like Jot provide small business owners with an opportunity to become more dynamic and resourceful in the way they run their businesses. In short, they can spend less time managing paper and more time focused on their business."

Likewise, a separate survey** conducted with 276 Ink from Chase customers showed that 84 percent of these small business owners are personally involved in managing business expenses, and 29 percent feel that they are spending more time on financial management than they had initially planned or predicted. More than 60 percent also believe a solution that would allow for business expenses to be organized and categorized immediately after they make purchases would simplify expense tracking, save valuable time and give them more time to spend on other aspects of their businesses.

Chase has unveiled a robust, multi-channel national advertising campaign to introduce Jot. Beginning today, ads will appear across outlets such as ABC, NBC, CNN, Fox, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur, Forbes, INC, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and numerous social media channels. The digital, print and television advertising highlights the efficiency and innovation of a mobile application for organizing business expenses. Print advertisements also feature QR codes that customers can scan to download Jot onto their iPhone or Android mobile devices. The campaign will continue through 2012.

Chase's commitment to small business owners is not solely demonstrated through the Ink from Chase card portfolio and Jot. On April 26, 2011, Chase announced its pledge to lend $12 billion to American small businesses in 2011, a 20 percent increase over the 2010 commitment, which the bank met in December. In 2010, Chase became the #1 Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in America, based on number of loans.

Jot can be downloaded online by visiting here. Through a mobile device, Ink customers can download Jot for iPhone at http://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-iphone/ and for Android at https://market.android.com/. Instructional tutorials that illustrate how Ink customers can effectively use Jot are available here.

Ink from Chase is a portfolio of business cards offering robust, flexible payment solutions and resources to meet the unique needs of small business owners, from spending habits to cash flow needs to rewards. This business card portfolio, which features Chase's pay-in-full charge card (a first from issuers of Visa® or MasterCard®), includes the Ink Bold, Ink Plus, Ink and Ink Cash cards.

All Ink cards are accepted worldwide at twice as many locations as American Express, giving small business owners a broader range of purchasing options and more opportunities to earn rewards - up to 25 percent more than American Express. Ink cards are supported by Chase's 5,000 bank branches and their trusted staffs, and are designed to meet the individual needs of small business owners.

* A nationwide telephone survey of small business owners with twenty employees or less was conducted by TechnoMetrica from the Small Business Insights Panel between April 21-27, 2011. A total of 304 surveys were completed with an overall margin of error of +/-5.7 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

** The online survey was conducted among 276 Small Business Owners who are current Ink customers and members of Chase's Think Tank Community, a proprietary online research community.