JPMorgan Chase’s growth driver: offline community branches

NEW YORK -- Global banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. has been expanding brick-and-mortar branches across the US with investments of billions of dollars, even as lenders worldwide rush to close physical offices due to the growth of digital transactions.

Chase Bank, the US consumer and commercial banking arm of JPMorgan Chase, plans to open some 500 branches and hire 3,500 employees over the next three years, mainly in cities where the lender has few branches such as Boston, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Charlotte, North Carolina, a company spokesperson said.

The bank has already increased its branch network by 650 since 2018 to more than 4,700 across 48 states and Washington DC while recruiting over 7,500 staff during that period. Its goal is to service 70% of the US population within a 10-minute drive of one of its branches.

Such strategies have paid off. Chase, which has the largest banking branch network in the US, added more than 2 million net new consumer and business checking accounts in 2023, finishing the year with over 44 million. JPMorgan Chase’s net income rose 32% to a record high of $49.6 billion last year.

“Our philosophy is simple. When it comes to making important financial decisions, we believe that people need people, which is why we continue to build new branches and grow into new markets,” Iba Reller, head of consumer & business banking external communications at Chase, told The Korea Economic Daily.

“Last year, nearly 40 million customers walked into one of our branches, which tells us that our customers value the ability to speak to one of our experts when they have a problem or need advice.”

About 84% of small business owners visit the bank’s branches at least once a month, Reller said.

COMMUNITY CENTER BRANCHES

Chase has been expanding its community center branches, which are locally inspired and contain extra space to host complimentary community events and financial health workshops, provide skills training workshops and offer a storefront for small business pop-ups.

“Having access to affordable and convenient financial services is critical to helping residents build long-term financial health and resilience,” said Reller.

Chase opened its first community center branch in New York — the Harlem Community Center — in June 2019.

The bank renovated the original branch, which had only desks, chairs and customer windows, to transform it into a community center for the neighborhood with murals and artwork by local artists.

Rocky Chowdhury, vice president and community manager at the branch, showed the mural of a local female entrepreneur displayed next to the fresco of JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, while proudly introducing nearly every corner of the branch to The Korea Economic Daily last month.

EVEN FOR NON-CHASE CUSTOMERS

The branch has provided free financial education to more than 5,000 residents since 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it prepared laptops for local students to use for free.

The community center branch also has a space for pop-up stores run by local small-business owners.

“Anyone, even those who are not Chase Bank customers, can use this branch as a space for their own business,” Chowdhury said.

Chase, which presently operates 16 community center branches, aims to expand such branches into communities that have faced historic barriers to banking, often urban areas with larger Black and Hispanic populations. The bank plans to open sites in the Bronx and Brooklyn, New York, as well as in Columbus, Ohio, this year.

Write to Sin-Young Park at nyusos@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.