BOSTON–Credit unions and banks in certain New England markets are about to get a big new competitor.
The nation’s biggest bank, JPMorgan Chase, which currently has no presence in Boston said it plans to open at least 60 branches and add at least 350 jobs in New England during the next five years, including 50 locations in Greater Boston.
The growth will not occur via an acquisition, as is often the case when big banks enter the market, but instead through “de novo” branch openings.
JPMorgan Chase executives told The New York Times they want to “carefully pick locations, rather than get saddled with someone else’s choices, as they add to the bank’s 5,100-branch network.” Federal rules also prevent big banks from making acquisitions that would leave them with more than 10% of the country’s deposit market share.
Expansion into Philly, DC
Earlier this year, the $2.5-trillion JPMorgan Chase, which is larger than all U.S. credit unions combined, announced it was exploring expansion into as many as 20 U.S. markets as the result of funds made available by the corporate tax cuts. In addition to Boston, it has also been working to secure regulatory approval to expand in Philadelphia and Washington.
Chase will open its first Boston-area branch in mid-December, in Dedham, Mass. According to the Times, at least 12 to 15 local branches are expected by the end of 2019.
Thasunda Duckett, Chase’s CEO of consumer banking, told the New York Times one-fifth of these new Boston-area branches will be in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. Some will be full service, with close to 10 staffers, in offices as big as 4,500 square feet. Others will be molded in Chase’s new “Express” format, which are about half the size of regular branches, with no traditional teller lines.