International financial services company Deutsche Bank will continue to increase its presence in Jacksonville with 300 more jobs at its Southside campus, Gov. Rick Scott announced Monday.
Deutsche Bank plans to have about 1,700 employees working in Jacksonville by the end of 2016 and Scott visited Jacksonville to thank the company for its investment in Florida.
"Why do companies like Deutsche Bank pick Florida? They are picking us because they can better provide their product or service here rather than somewhere else," said Scott.
Scott was joined at the announcement by state representative and incoming JAX President and CEO Daniel Davis and state Sen. Aaron Bean.
"We are here today to announce that Deutsche Bank Securities will expand their investment banking division in Jacksonville. The expansion will create 300 jobs and Deutsche Bank will invest more than $10 million in the Jacksonville community," said Scott.
The new jobs and capital investment Deutsche Bank plans to bring to Jacksonville was announced in April when the City and state agreed to an economic development agreement to assist the company.
The City and state partnered to provide about $2 million in incentives, $500,000 from the City and $1.58 million from the state, to offset the company's costs to expand in Jacksonville.
The incentives will be drawn from the state's Quick Action Closing Fund, Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund program and the Recapture Enhanced Value grant program.
The jobs will pay an average wage of about $62,000 plus benefits. The jobs will require applicants with knowledge of financial services, investment banking and IT support.
"We began our journey in 2008 with about 100 employees and a concept that investment banking could flourish here in Jacksonville," said Mike Fleming, managing director of Deutsche Bank Jacksonville.
"We have validated that concept and we've had to add addition infrastructure positions in global technology, legal compliance and finance," said Fleming.
Scott presented Fleming with a "Governor's Business Ambassador Award." The award is given to individuals who have had an impact on growing jobs for Florida families.
Fleming said the award was earned through the hard work of his staff, including Mike Drexler, managing director of investment banking and trading in Jacksonville. He joined Deutsche Bank two years ago. He was responsible for establishing the front- office operation in Jacksonville.
"There is no way that I would have imagined that we would have been able to successfully and seamlessly replicate the trading and banking functions of 60 Wall Street, where Deutsche Bank is located in Manhattan (N.Y.), in Florida," said Drexler.
Technology has allowed the company to create that atmosphere away from Wall Street, he said.
Fleming confirmed reports that Jacksonville was at one time being considered for an additional 431 Deutsche Bank jobs that will be created in Cary, N.C.
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory announced last Thursday that DB Global Technology Inc., which provides software application development and maintenance services in support of Deutsche Bank, would create 431 jobs in Cary by the end of 2016.
"Jacksonville was considered. (Deutsche Bank) looked at it and leveraged what worked best for them in both cities," said Fleming.
"Each one of our locations has a specific skill set. We have a tech center in Cary, N.C., They are application development and that is where Deutsche Bank has chosen to continue to grow that application development center," said Fleming.
"What we have here in Jacksonville is much different. We have a much broader center, we have all other elements of the bank here," he said.
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