JPMorgan Chase Plans to Continue Adding Branches in the U.S.
Despite challenges to its business, JPMorgan Chase plans to add 175 new branches in the U.S. during 2012. In an e-mail to employees, CEO Jamie Dimon claimed that while most financial firms were laying off thousands of employees, JPMorgan Chase ”in the face of challenges… is doing its part” and has “not shrunk back.” A spokesman told eFinancialCareers that while the bank hasn't specified precisely where the build-outs will be, its markets are mostly "in California and Florida."
In Dimon's email, which was quoted by
Bloomberg, the CEO maintains that JPMorgan Chase actually expanded last year, hiring 16,000 people in the U.S. in 2011, bringing its total workforce to more than 260,000 in a year when financial companies announced more than 200,000 job cuts and protests against Wall Street firms spread worldwide.
He made no mention of an announcement his firm made last October that it would cut 1,000 jobs in its investment bank unit, following a 4 percent decline in third quarter earnings. He did admit that “2011 was another year of challenges, both for JPMorgan Chase and for countries around the world” and added "there is a lot of frustration out there and more than a little hostility toward our industry.”
Dimon said he respects the right of people to “speak their mind” and acknowledged their frustrations, he wrote in the e-mail. Everyone has an interest in spurring the economy and creating jobs, he wrote.
