Through the prolonged economic downturn, JPMorgan Chase & Co. has found a winning combination by offering its banking and investment services in a single private setting to wealthy clients.
Westchester County has been a key launching point and center of growth for the company”™s four-year-old and fast-expanding Chase Private Client program.
Since its 2007 launch as a pilot program in metropolitan New York and Chicago, Chase Private Client has opened 23 locations in Westchester in existing Chase bank branches and standalone offices. Serving customers with investable assets ranging from $500,000 to $5 million, private-client teams, led by a Chase banker, provide concierge-style banking services from Chase and investment services from J.P. Morgan at offices in Bronxville, Eastchester, Harrison, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Mount Vernon, Pelham, Rye, Rye Brook, Scarsdale, White Plains and Yonkers.
Building on the “huge success” of its pilot program, the company plans to hang its Chase Private Client shingle at more than 250 locations nationwide by the end of this year, said JPMorgan Chase spokeswoman Lauren Francis.
By the end of 2012, the financial services giant aims to have 40 Chase private offices in Westchester and more than 750 locations nationwide, Francis said. Wealthy clients across the country will be served by more than 1,000 Chase bankers and more than 300 J. P. Morgan advisers working for Chase Private Client.
“We”™re excited about Westchester,” said Barry Sommers of Chappaqua, CEO of the Chase Wealth Management division who leads the company”™s aggressive banking and investment reach-out to its 2 million affluent clients. “It”™s a community where we”™ve had a really good footprint.” Three private-client offices were opened in the county in the Chase pilot program four years ago.
Sommers, a member of JPMorgan Chase”™s executive committee, said the program was launched to serve the evolving needs of those wealthy individuals who account for about 10 percent of the bank”™s total customer base.
Those clients tend to wire funds more frequently, and their transfers now can be done by phone through their private Chase bankers. They also travel more, said Sommers, in response to which Chase offers fee-free access to foreign ATMs and refunded fees for use of non-Chase ATMs in the U.S.
“A big piece of Chase Private Client on the banking side is service, service, service,” Sommers said. A typical private-client banker handles 100 to 200 accounts in a branch office, he said.
“There”™s a pretty large overlap between affluent clients and business owners.” Sommers said private-client bankers work closely with Chase”™s business bankers to meet those clients”™ business financial needs.
The recently approved New York state income-tax hike for households above $2 million in income could have Chase”™s wealthy clients looking to reallocate investments, Sommers said. “It just gets you back to getting a dedicated team of people who help you through this,” he said.
That helping team effort has paid off for Chase and its parent company. Since the private-client program began four years ago, clients have brought Chase more than $1.6 billion in new balances.
Francis said JPMorgan Chase”™s own surveys and third-party surveys have found that if a firm can prove it has a credible investment platform, customers prefer to have a primary provider rather than multiple providers handling their investments and deposits and other banking services.
Many banks have tried this and haven’t been that successful. I am glad Chase is taking the lead on this. I think it’s a brilliant idea!