Chase banking branches coming to JAX

[spuwho]

When I moved to Jacksonville, I was working for Chase at the time.

The first thing I did was go to the Chase facility on Southside to find an ATM so I could perform transactions w/o paying any fees.

To my amazement, in a building of 350 Chase employees, there wasn't anything. Not an employee banking center, not even an ATM! I asked the facility manager where was the ATM?  She said that they took it out because none of the Chase employees had Chase accounts. They only got their employee discounted mortgages, but banked elsewhere. She also noted that many of the Chase employees lived in Orange Park or the west side and not having anything near them just didn't work.

Stunned, I dropped an email to the President of Chase Florida and asked him what the scoop was. He said that Florida was a strategic market for Chase, but that the plan was to grow organically in the Jacksonville market. Rumors were ripe that they were going to make a run at Sun Trust at the time (they wanted WAY too much anyway) so I figured it was a matter of time before they landed here.

I thought it too funny that JPMC had call centers throughout Florida (Jacksonville (mortgages), Lake Mary (card), Tampa (card and corporate)) but almost no retail presence.

Unfortunately, they did land, but it was through the WaMu disintegration, not organically.

In the interim, several banks have died and even Fifth Third showed up, so I still wondered when Chase was going to be able to pull it together.

At this point, I am no longer with Chase, as an employee or as a retail customer.

[simms3]

Thanks, that was interesting.  The banking presence one finds in other parts of FL is pretty stunning compared to the options in Jax.  It's about time Chase showed up.  It looks like there are 2 Schwab branches, too...in guess where...SS at SJTC and in PVB.  Shocker.  Whenever I'm down in S FL or SW FL I'm pretty dazzled by the array of prestigious banks.  Lots of high net worth individuals.  And then again laundered coke money built the huge banking industry down in Miami, still present, still bankrolling shitty developments, still taking in iffy foreign cash, LoL.  Jacksonville does NOT need any of that shenanigans.

I've never banked with a national before...In Jax it was local.  In Atlanta it was SunTrust.  Now I'm on the West Coast...need new bank.  Considering Chase as there are so many branches and ATMs here (4th largest bank by deposits here), but then again the locals/regionals out of SF are so so good (by local I mean banks that are still the size of SunTrust, LoL, and Wells Fargo is based here).

I would think there would be a demand for at least one Northern Trust branch/office in PVB.  Still shocked there is none.  Now that's a prestigious bank!  My mother grew up near the founders' family outside of Chicago.  She always tells me they drove shitty cars