JP Morgan Chase agreed to acquire MCX’s payments technology to accelerate the expansion of its Chase Pay wallet app.

MCX was formed in 2012 by a consortium of retailers in the US which wanted to develop a merchant-run mobile payments system to rival ApplePay. The final trial of its system, named CurrentC, was discontinued in June 2016 with all user accounts disabled.

JP Morgan Chase said the acquisition of the company’s technology means it won’t need to build a parallel system to expand to the scope of Chase Pay. MCX was a launch partner for the app, and as a result its technology is already compatible.

Jennifer Roberts, head of Chase Pay, said: “When we think about fintech, we go through a build/buy/partner evaluation to decide how we can get to market most efficiently. MCX has been an important partner, and their technology complements ours, so we’re thrilled to deepen our relationships with the merchant community through the purchase of this technology. This will help us get to market faster.”

Chase Pay launched in November 2016 with a small number of merchants across the US including Best Buy. In a statement, JP Morgan Chase said it would aim to add more MCX merchants including Walmart, Shell, Phillips 66 and Wakefern over the next year.

The company said it expected the acquisition to complete in the coming weeks. No financial details were disclosed.