WASHINGTON — JPMorgan Chase will enter the area’s retail banking business as part of its plans to expand to 15 to 20 new markets over the next five years.
JPMorgan Chase has 5,130 Chase Bank branches in 23 states currently, but no retail branches in the D.C. area.
While it hasn’t specified any branch locations, JPMorgan Chase said it will open up to 70 new branches and hire 700 employees in Virginia, Maryland and the District.
Twenty percent of those new branches, it said, will be in low-to-moderate-income communities, including D.C.’s Wards 7 and 8, unidentified locations in Maryland’s Prince George’s County and in Baltimore.
They may not all be full-service branches, as indicated in a statement.
“The firm’s new branches will be built reflecting how customers choose to bank. Whether it’s through smaller, digital-first locations or full-service branches to help customers with more complex needs, Chase gives customers the ability to bank when, where and how they want to,” it said.
The positions will be entry level but employees will be paid no less than $16.50 an hour and will receive JP Morgan Chase’s full benefits package, which is valued at an average of $12,000 a year. The company will partner with local community colleges and universities to attract people to those positions.
“Far too many of our residents are underbanked. We hope this expansion means that we will see more banking, not just where we have them already, but where we need them to be,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement.
JPMorgan Chase’s nationwide expansion will include up to 400 new branches and as many as 3,000 new employees, it said.
As part of the expansion into the Greater Washington region, Chase said it also would do the following:
- Commit $4 billion over five years for regional home and small business lending;
- Increase lending to construct and maintain affordable rental housing by nearly 50 percent to $500 million over five years in the region including low-to moderate income communities;
- Increase the philanthropic investment from $10 million to $25 million to drive inclusive economic growth in the region.
JPMorgan Chase has more than 2 million customers and more than 70,000 business clients in the D.C. area.
“We have been doing business in the D.C. region since 1999, and we’re excited to now expand our consumer branch business here,” said JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon in a statement.
JPMorgan Chase will announce its investment during a luncheon Thursday.
