US bank JP Morgan Chase will close its standalone mobile payments app early next year in favour of integrating the payment system into third party merchant apps and websites.

After the closure of the app, Chase Pay will still be available as a payment option, as it currently is, on a number of merchant websites in the US but in-store transactions will be unavailable.

In a statement the company said: “We continue to focus on our customers and they are using the Chase Pay button on merchant websites and in merchant apps, and now their tap-to-pay Chase cards more than ever. So, we’re shifting our focus to expand Chase Pay’s presence in more merchant apps and websites.”

Chase Pay’s mobile wallet app launched across the US in 2016, having been announced in 2015 to much fanfare. At the time the company said it would “solve a number of pain points for consumers and merchants,” adding it would “improve customer experience and drive down the cost of payments.”

In an attempt to increase the scope of the app in 2017 the bank struck a deal to acquire merchant payment technology assets from MCX for an undisclosed fee. It competed in the US market with a number of high-profile players including Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.