The nation’s largest bank is expanding its brick-and-mortar presence in Iowa, it announced Monday with an event that brought its high-profile chairman and CEO, Jamie Dimon, to Des Moines.
JPMorganChase, with more than $3 trillion in assets, is announcing plans to open 25 new branches in Iowa by 2030 and create about 150 new jobs. Dimon marked the start of the expansion by cutting the ribbon on the latest Iowa branch to open, a newly constructed building at 3101 Ingersoll Ave.
Accompanying Dimon, Jennifer Roberts, CEO of Chase Consumer Banking, said in an interview with the Des Moines Register that the bank's decision to expand in Iowa is a continuation of its announcement, made in 2018, to build 400 new branches and have operations in all states except Alaska and Hawaii,
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Roberts said Chase decides where to build by comparing its share of a market's deposits to its share of branch locations there.
“So we have a very low single-digit branch share in many of these new states that we went in starting in 2018, and we know we need to increase that to really get the full effect of our investment," she said. "And so this is really just an ongoing effort from that journey starting in 2018 to continue to expand and get to that optimal size.”
Chase consumer banking head: Iowa's economic diversity is attractive
The new branch on Ingersoll is Chase’s sixth to open in the Des Moines metro in the past three years, and its plans call for additional branches in Des Moines, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City and Ames in the next five years.
Even in a world of increased digital capabilities, Roberts said, customers are still looking for human interaction.
“We really view our branch locations as advice centers in many ways, our ability to really connect with customers of all different needs," she said. "Our experience is that in complex situations people want people, and they want to have a human connection and an interaction.
“We know that the majority of our accounts, in particular … with young people get opened in a physical branch, not online, which may be different than what you would expect, because obviously young people do everything online.”
She said one of the attributes Iowa has that is attractive to Chase is its diversity. “Maybe not necessarily what people typically think of diversity, but it’s got a vibrant university community, agriculture and farming, obviously manufacturing, and small business is a big part of the economy."
“In Iowa, and as we really strive to be what we call the bank for all, we want to make sure we're serving customers at all ends of the affluent spectrum and all types of small businesses, regardless of what industry they're in," she said. "Iowa, I think is a great microcosm of our ability to do that and deliver on that.”
Expansion in Iowa fits Chase’s overall goal, announced in May, of having branches located within accessible drive time of 50% of all U.S. residents, Roberts said.
Community bank chief calls Chase expansion 'a good sign for Iowa'
Iowa already is highly competitive when it comes to banking, with 240 state-chartered banks and roughly 1,400 bank offices scattered around the state, said John Sorensen, president and CEO of the Iowa Bankers Association.
Sorensen said Iowa’s large number of banks — it ranks in the top four nationally and near the top on a per-capita basis — is due to its agricultural heritage.
“We have a number of community institutions here, especially in rural Iowa, serving those rural communities very well. My sense with Chase is they're going to be looking at markets that make sense for them,” he said, adding that metro markets have become highly competitive in Iowa and likely are where Chase will seek to establish its niche.
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“It requires any financial institution that enters the market to understand that market well, to understand where they can fit and you know try and try and provide a better mousetrap,” Sorensen said.
Despite the competition, Greg Post, president and CEO of Spencer-based Northwest Bank, said he sees Chase’s increased presence in Iowa as a good thing.
“I’m thrilled they (Chase) see Iowa as a place they can continue to grow and prosper," he said. "I think that’s a good sign for Iowa and it’s a good sign for Iowa community banks that the Midwest has been extremely strong over the last decade, even through the COVID years.”
He said huge banks like Chase have brought important technology to the industry, but community banks like his will continue to thrive in Iowa.
“The larger mega banks, they have different business models obviously and are trying to play up to their investors," he said. "I think the challenge facing the banking industry today is not to bump off or move out locally based competition to benefit mega banks, but how do we maintain a diverse and decentralized system to ensure continued access to the financial service for all Iowans and people across the country?”
Dimon, informed of Post's welcoming attitude, said banks like Northwest can also be Chase customers, with the larger bank providing them loans and helping them with services tailored to customers who have foreign markets and clients.
"We can bank them (customers) outside this country. We've got special digital services that secure their payments etcetera and we can move money in 120 different currencies," Dimon said. "We can do a lot of things other people can't do. If you look at the financial ecosystem, you know, we bank a company like Boeing in 30 countries. You can't be a small bank and do that."
Chase offers international reach to all sizes of businesses, including the 20,000 or so small businesses it serves in Iowa, Dimon said. He thinks that number will grow to 40,000 to 50,000.
“When we come here, we can also help them sell their product in India and Asia and Mexico," he said. "We are everywhere. So they say to us they want to learn about what they can do in Brazil, we teach them. We can open a bank account in Brazil for them and help them sell into Brazil.”
Kevin Baskins covers jobs and the economy for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at kbaskins@registermedia.com.
