A little more than a decade ago, JPMorgan Chase & Co. was a big employer in Jacksonville after taking over the mortgage operations center formerly run by Washington Mutual Bank.
However, the company, which operates branches under the Chase Bank brand, didn’t have a consumer banking operation.
JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon saw that as an opportunity.
“I wanted a test to go to a new market and build a profitable bank,” Dimon said Jan. 31 during a visit to the company’s Downtown Jacksonville Chase branch at 112 W. Adams St.
“Jacksonville is actually the first new market we ever put a branch in,” he said.
After starting to build a branch network for its Chase business in 2013, the company now has 20 offices in the Jacksonville market.
The test went well enough that Chase Bank plans to open 10 more branches in the Jacksonville metropolitan area.
Dimon said he is patient about results from new markets.
“We’re quite vigilant about those investments paying off over time,” he said.
“I’ve never been the kind of manager who said you have to have a payoff this year.”
The next expansion will include offices in low-to-moderate income neighborhoods in Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Dimon said banks have an obligation under the federal Community Reinvestment Act to serve all parts of the community but he said JPMorgan would provide those services anyway.
“We want to do that,” he said.
Dimon said Chase Bank operates community centers at some offices in major cities to engage with the local community.
“You have a public space where you can bring people in,” he said.
The offices include works by local artists, and they bring in food from local restaurants.
“Reach out and have people come in here,” Dimon said. “They’re vibrant. You go to these things and the community loves it.”
The company is not planning on opening community centers in Jacksonville now but the Downtown office is considered a community branch, with a community manager to help reach out to the residents in the area of the office.
One issue JPMorgan seeks to address is affordable housing, and helping customers qualify for a home loan.
“We go the extra mile to make the mortgage, or get them the proper mortgage,” he said.
Dimon said one problem with housing is the undersupply of available homes in the market.
“That undersupply has been there for quite a while,” he said. “Eventually the supply will catch up with the demand.”
Dimon expects mortgage rates to decline some but not back to the levels they were before the Federal Reserve started raising rates to combat inflation.
“I think rates are going to be higher permanently at this point,” he said.
However, “I would say we just went back to normal. We had very abnormal (low rates) for some time.”
Besides growing the branch network in the Jacksonville area, Dimon said JPMorgan may also look to add back-office operations in addition to its large mortgage center.
JPMorgan employs about 1,700 people in Jacksonville and said it will hire 100 more for the new branches and other needs.
Dimon said the company seeks to work with local communities as it adds jobs, not just seeking tax incentives to help an expansion but also issues like adding bus routes to help employees get to work.
“When governments collaborate with us, they kind of welcome you. They help you,” he said.
Jacksonville could be a market for more growth by JPMorgan.
“It’s got the infrastructure, it’s got the space,” Dimon said, recognizing that Jacksonville is the largest city in the continental U.S. with more than 840 square miles.
“It’s got to be the largest city in the world,” he said.
“It’s a great city. It’s expanding,” he said.