JPMorgan Chase readies retail bank expansion into Maine
Photo / Renee Cordes
JPMorgan Chase will open its first Maine branch at 480 Congress St. in Portland.
Two years after JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) planted a flag in Maine with a Portland-based commercial banking team, the New York City-based banking and financial services company is planning to roll out retail operations in the state.
The rollout will start in Portland, with a branch at 480 Congress St., just off of Monument Square, set to open in June. There are plans for four more branches by the end of 2022, but so far only Westbrook has been identified. That branch will open next October.
The move into Maine comes amid an ongoing drive to operate branches in all 48 lower U.S. states. JP Morgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon mentioned the expansion strategy in October, when the company reported a 28% jump in third-quarter community and consumer banking deposits over a year earlier.
He noted at that time that JPMorgan Chase is investing in retail "to better serve our customers' needs," and that it had recently received approval to open branches in 10 additional states.
In Maine, it aims to employ up to 50 people at five locations in the southern part of the state, an executive told Mainebiz.
'A marathon and not a sprint'
The bank's retail push into Portland coincides with Skowhegan Savings Bank's plan to open a business center on Marginal Way next April to service a growing commercial clientele, and as the city center remains quieter than normal with lots of employers still on remote operations.
FDIC quarterly figures through June 30 show that the market leaders in terms of deposits in the Portland-South Portland metropolitan statistical area are TD Bank, Bank of America and Key Bank, and that six Maine-based banks are among the top 10.
Justin Brovitz, a Boston-based executive director with JPMorgan who serves as the institution's market director for banking in Boston, Maine and Vermont, told Mainebiz he doesn't see growing competition or lower downtown Portland foot traffic during the pandemic as hurdles to the bank's retail expansion plans.
"We know that Maine is a very competitive marketplace. I think that's why we're excited to be there," he said in a phone interview on Friday. "We view our expansion into Maine as a marathon and not a sprint."
He also said the bank knows its customers definitely want physical branches, in addition to being able to bank over the phone.
Hiring plans
The Portland branch will be managed by Kelly Eberly, a Mainer currently with Chase in Cleveland with plans to "boomerang" back to her home state. She will manage a team of eight to 10 employees.
While JPMorgan Chase had been looking at a retail move into Maine for some time, Brovitz said it was a matter of finding the right location. Further growth is also planned for the three-person commercial banking team headed by Michael Griffin.
Brovitz noted that Chase already has 244,000 business and consumer banking customers in Maine, of which 107,900 are in York and Cumberland counties. It is looking to partner with the Portland-based commercial banking team to build its retail customer base.
He said Chase does not necessarily have a numerical target in mind but wants to focus on growth, adding, "We want to really get to know the customer base and hear what's important to them."
The planned Westbrook branch, which will have a similar model to Portland and employ around eight to 10 people, is set to open at 207 Larrabee Road in October 2021.
The bank is scouting out other possible locations in southern Maine.
Falmouth and Yarmouth are both in consideration, and Brovitz said that in choosing a location, Chase opts for a mixture of leasing existing buildings or new construction depending on the situation.
"What's more important for us is being strategic and finding the right spot," he said.
In Vermont, it's planning to open three branches in greater Burlington, with the first of those slated to open downtown in June.
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