J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. plans to make a $20 billion, five-year investment in its U.S. businesses, boosting wages and expanding into new markets, largely in response to the recent sweeping corporate tax code changes made by the Trump Administration. Texas claims the second highest number of Chase employees after New York.
The New York-based financial titan announced this week that over the next five years it will open 400 new branches across the nation, hire about 4,000 people, boost its charitable giving by 40 percent to $1.75 billion, and increase loans to customers seeking affordable homes by 25 percent, reflecting $50 billion. The banks says it will raise small business lending to 20 percent, or $4 billion, over three years.
Chase will raise wages to between $15 and $18 an hour from a range of $12 to $16.50 an hour benefiting 22,000 full- and part-time hourly employees notably in branches and customer services centers in more than 100 U.S. cities.
Chase has a prominent footprint in Texas where they employ 25,000 people. The banking institution is one the largest employers in North Texas, with 12,000 working in the bank’s downtown Dallas tower, the recently opened $300 million Legacy West campus in Plano, a Dallas suburb, or other locations. Chase projects more than 16,000 people will work at the Legacy West location in the next two years, making it one of the largest job centers in the state and the nation.
The financial giant is also one of the Houston area’s biggest employers with 6,400 employees, according to the Houston Chronicle, which noted the company has 207 local branches and holds 44 percent of Houston’s bank deposits. Currently, Houston has more than 200 open positions.
In Texas, the Chase multibillion dollar stateside investment plan means pay raises for 3,476 employees, of which 900 work in the Houston area. The Dallas Morning News reports around 1,000 are in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. In North Texas alone, the banking firm serves more than 3.4 million consumer customers and 272,000 businesses. Over the past 12 years, the company touted it grew from 36 branches in Dallas-Fort Worth to more than 240.
“Having a healthy, strong company allows us to make these long-term, sustainable investments,” said J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. “We are excited about further investing in our outstanding workforce and expanding into new U.S. markets.”
In addition to its strong business performance, the company credited this five-year plan to “recent changes to the U.S. corporate tax system and a more constructive regulatory and business environment.”
Last year, Dimon, a lifelong Democrat, surprised many when he emerged as one of the most vocal and visible CEOs pushing for changes to the corporate tax code, calling the Trump Administration’s economic agenda the “right agenda.”
Dimon agreed with President Trump’s plans to relax financial regulations, increase infrastructure spending, and reform the corporate tax system. Breitbart News reported Dimon said: “Our corporate tax system is driving capital and brains overseas and excessive regulation is reducing growth and business formation particularly for small businesses.”
Earlier in January, J.P. Morgan Chase reported a fourth-quarter profit that beat Wall Street’s expectations even though the company took a $2.4 billion hit related to the tax cut, according to Business Insider. Despite the one-time charges, Dimon praised Trump’s tax reform as a “significant positive outcome for the country,” allowing U.S. companies to become more globally competitive,” which he said would ultimately benefit Americans.
Presently, Chase shows it employs more than 240,000 individuals worldwide. Although it is the largest U.S. bank by assets, the firm only has 5,130 branches in 23 states. Chase intends to expand into 15-20 into untapped U.S. markets over the next five years as part of their investment strategy.
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