GREENSBORO, N.C. — Multinational banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) last week announced plans to expand its middle market business into the Triad.
Veteran Triad banker Pete Callahan, with 37 years in banking at such institutions as Wachovia and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), has been tapped to lead the team that will set up shop and service local businesses.
Carolinas Region Executive Brent Gore and Callahan spoke to Triad Business Journal this week to discuss why the time is right to enter an increasingly competitive market.
The following has been edited for space and for clarity.
Why is Chase entering the Triad market now, and what spectrum of the market does it intend to serve?
Gore: The expansion into the Triad market is part of an ongoing plan we’ve been executing since 2012 to build out a middle market business across the Carolinas, and this was just the natural next step
We’re not at liberty to say (where or how many). We don’t know the exact locations of all the branches yet, but we will be building as many as 40 branches across North Carolina over the next few years.
As part of our expansion plans, we’ve got a presence in all the top 50 MSAs with the goal to be in several more. And the Triad market is one of them. North Carolina as a whole is growing and growing strongly, and we want to be in all the critical markets within North Carolina as well.
What about the Triad is uniquely appealing for Chase in relation to its middle market business platform it will establish here?
Callahan: This area is prime for growth over the next 10 years, and this is a long-term strategy here.
As we think about the work being done with the megasites and some of the clusters within our region with aerospace and logistics, there's a lot of potential in this marketplace.
We feel like the Triad is primed and ready to grow in the next 10 years, so this is a good time for JPMorgan Chase to come into the market.
There's a lot going on at the national and global level regarding the economy and investment. Should that concern national or global companies with interests rooted in the Triad?
Gore: The Triad has a lot of international businesses. We have a tremendous international platform that we feel like will be beneficial, and we can serve a lot of clients in that capacity with transacting and growing and expanding their businesses internationally.
There is tremendous opportunity. We think of our business in a 100-year plan, and that's what we see as an opportunity over the long term with the growth not only in North Carolina, but in the Triad.
Locally, there has been a lot of activity in the financial industry – consolidation, mergers and acquisitions, the launch of new community banks. Is there any concern entering such a competitive market?
Callahan: This is a competitive industry and we’re used to that. What I am excited about is the technology here is best in class. I think about how we can help the clients in this market move to a digital portal where they can receive and send payments electronically and do that in a simplified fashion. JPMorgan Chase spent $11 billion last year in technology.
