More, bigger, stronger.
Nearly a year after their nuptials, Bank One and JPMorgan Chase & Co. will debut in Utah — under the couple's married name, Chase — pledging a more complete package of services for a broader base of clients in a market primed for growth.
Beginning May 9, Bank One's 29 Utah branches will switch to the Chase banner, including signage and printed materials. Utah is the bank's third market nationwide to make the name change and the first to roll out the company's combined product line, which will feature an enhanced line of investment, consumer, mortgage and small-business products.
"We're excited to be on the front end of it," said Craig Zollinger, president and chief executive of Bank One Utah, who will continue to lead operations for Chase. "We're excited for the employees, for our customers and for the community."
JPMorgan Chase had no retail bank branches in Utah, so there was no overlap in that market. But it did have a credit-card processing facility here, which is now part of the larger Chase family. With that addition, the bank's combined headcount in the state is 650.
Chase has aggressive plans for growth in Utah over the next few years, Zollinger said. In addition to four new branches opened last year, the bank anticipates building 12 to 15 new branches, from Logan to St. George — a $55 million investment that could create 175 new jobs.
"We're entering markets where we've historically never been," Zollinger said. "We're not just getting bigger in places we're already in, we're going into places we aren't."
Which is a big deal for the former Bank One, which has historically lagged behind the state's market leaders, Zions Bank and Wells Fargo.
"We went through a number of years where we did not expand at all, where we actually contracted," Zollinger said. "But we are now part of the second largest bank (holding company) in the country. We'll be looking to expand as rapidly as we can. We see opportunities in every area."
Steven C. Westenskow, Chase's Utah retail market manager, said that means stepping up and being more visible in the community, cross-selling products and proving to new and existing customers it has what they need.
"The logic is that we want to be where our customers are, and we want our customers to come in to our branches, so we can help them find what will best meet their needs," Westenskow said. "And we want new customers."
Zollinger said the marriage of Bank One and Chase — creating a bank holding company with more than $1 trillion in assets — created a more complete organization, able to offer everything from simple checking accounts to wealth management/investment advice to mortgages to an array of commercial lending products.
"The strengths of the two institutions are so complementary," Zollinger said. "Bank One has traditionally been known as more of a mid-market bank, and JPMorgan Chase was better known for investment banking and wealth management. So as you bring the two together, we feel that we're extremely well-positioned to bring a broader scope of products and services to our customers."
For example, the bank will roll out Chase Edge, a free financial planning tool available to all Chase customers, said Susan Graham Mayo, managing director of the bank's private client services division in Utah. Chase Edge provides individualized assessments of clients' investment risk tolerance and models to help them plan for retirement or education funding.
In addition, Mayo said, the bank will have a beefed-up team of wealth management advisers at its branches.
"We have have every target market covered with the money management capabilities of JPMorgan," Mayo said. "Asset wealth management has always been strong, globally, for JPMorgan, and we are leveraging that, making sure that we can all have that platform and bring all that to the client no matter where they fall on the spectrum."
For businesses, Zollinger said Chase is able to offer a broader array of products, including larger and quicker loans, a greater international presence for its larger corporate clients and the ability to create individualized products.
"We have the ability now to not only make loans and provide cash management and take deposits, but also to provide expertise around raising equity, advising on mergers and acquisitions strategies, providing international products and capabilities," Zollinger said. "In the past, on the Bank One side, as our customers needed those kinds of services, a lot of them found they needed to move on to a bank that could do it for them. We can stay with our customers now a lot longer, we can grow with them and take them to places we couldn't take them before."
Bank One branches to switch to Chase May 9
Existing Bank One and JPMorgan customers will keep their account numbers and can continue to use their Bank One checks until they run out.
Customers have access to more ATMs (Chase and Bank One have 6,500 nationwide).
Consumers have access to expanded mortgage products through Chase Home Finance.
About 53 million credit cards bearing the Bank One or First USA brands will be re-issued as Chase cards in 2005. The transition should be seamless.
Chase will roll out a new, free financial planning product, called "Chase Edge," which the bank maintains is comparable to financial management advice for which customers may pay $1,200 to $2,500 at a brokerage firm.
E-mail: jnii@desnews.com