JPMorgan Chase expanding in D.C. area with 70 new branches
WASHINGTON -- JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest bank, announced Wednesday it's expanding its branch network to the Greater Washington, D.C. area. That includes up to 70 new branches, with 700 additional employees in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. The bank also plans to give out $4 billion in home and business loans in the area, and $25 million in philanthropic investments.
"CBS Evening News" anchor Jeff Glor sat down with Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, to talk about the latest expansion, as well as the state of the U.S. economy.
Jeff Glor: 70 branches, 700 employees, big investment here. Why here, why now?
Jamie Dimon: So JPMorgan, you know, we have 5,000 branches around the country, and you know, because of some regulatory reform, tax reform, we have the capital, we wanna go and expand. So we've announced we're gonna go into 15 new markets, and this'll be one of the first. We go in with philanthropy, small business lending, lower-and middle-income mortgage lending, affordable housing. So it's the full face and force of JPMorgan, hopefully, helping these communities.
JPMorgan Chase recently saw its biggest-ever quarterly profit, prompting questions about how much banks are getting versus the customers they serve.
Glor: Wages are up. Some bonuses have been given. One of the concerns, though, is is that the vast majority of the benefits from this tax reform has gone to companies and executives and share buybacks. Is that fair?
Dimon: I don't think it's gone to executives, per se. But like I said, the immediate benefit, there would be immediate benefits, what companies are doing right now to help grow and expand and wages and stuff like that. Over time, capital gets reinvested, and that drives productivity and wages.
Glor: But are the, are the benefits of tax reform right now being distributed, in your estimation, fairly?
Dimon: You know, over time, it will. But like I said, it's gonna be very hard to do it on day one. Remember, for me to open 500 branches, I need real estate people. I need to train tellers. We need to train branches. We need to sign leases. So I couldn't, I couldn't do it overnight.
Glor: This has been a long time of sustained, solid growth. How long can it go for before the next recession?
Dimon: Yeah. I think you read, your viewers should understand, it's been nine years of growth, which is among the longest. Consumers are in very good shape. Business in very good shape. Capital markets are wide open. Housing, as you know, is in short supply, which means more is gonna have to be built and so yeah, it could go on for a while.
Glor: You don't think a recession happens later this year, next year. You think it's got a while to go.
Dimon: I hate to forecast things like that. We will eventually have another recession. I do not know what will cause it. I don't think it's gonna happen this year and maybe not early next year. Everything you look at is pretty good.
Glor: A lotta folks were saying still, things still looked pretty good in 2006, 2007, when in fact, they weren't.
Dimon: Yeah. But you gotta analyze the facts. So in 2006 and '07, financial companies were leveraged three times that they are today, and then we had this problem called mortgages. $1 trillion of mortgages went bad, it's nothing like that today. We will have another crisis. But it won't be that way.
Dimon's annual letter to shareholders always makes news. This year's covered everything from Brexit to immigration.
Glor: I know you spent a lotta time putting that letter together. A lot of it's more policy than it is economics or banking, necessarily. Is that-- that's the evolution of a banker? You wanna-- you wanna get into those policy discussions?
Dimon: I've been disappointed in the progress we've made in this country. These public policy issues have hurt the growth of America dramatically. They're hurting the future of America. They're hurtin' the future of jobs. They're hurting the, they're hurting the poor more than they hurt, hurt the rich. And if we can do a better job on public policy, I think the country would be far better off.
