- Chase launched a broader upskilling initiative in 2018 for employees in its nearly 5,000 branches.
- The bank wants to place a licensed banker who can offer investment advice at every location.
- It’s also training associate bankers to handle less transactional and more advice-based work.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
JPMorgan Chase has big plans for employees at the bank’s roughly 4,900 US branches.
The bank is aiming to have all US branches staffed with licensed relationship bankers who can offer investment advice to clients by the end of the year, Insider has learned. It’s part of a wider set of initiatives designed to skill up Chase’s branch employees.
Relationship bankers at Chase typically handle a roster of assigned, dedicated clients, as opposed to meeting customers on an ad-hoc basis.
A spokesperson for Chase said that as part of the licensing initiative, the bank is helping employees study for and pass FINRA’s Securities Industry Essentials and Series 6 and 7 exams, as well as state registrations like the Series 63 and 66 qualifications and life insurance certifications.
The bank has also embarked on a training program to broaden the roles of its associate bankers, who were formerly called tellers, to better integrate their positions alongside these licensed bankers and wealth advisors.
Chase’s Head of Consumer Branch Banking Stevie Baron told Insider the bank’s efforts to upskill all of its branch employees began in 2018 and have been accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chase is targeting the end of 2021 to have placed a licensed relationship banker in all of its branches, but Baron said the timeline is flexible because the bank continues to hire.
“We are in the market right now, hiring bankers and hiring licensed bankers, and upskilling our staff to the licensed banker role,” Baron said.
“We’re right in the middle of the execution phase,” he added.
Chase’s branches play key role in its wealth plans
In early June, Reuters reported Chase planned to hire 3,000 branch employees in new markets as part of a wide-reaching branch expansion plan taking place over several years.
Chase’s licensed relationship bankers will be able to move money into or open an investment account, or direct customers to wealth advisors for broader conversations about choosing certain products or longer-term planning.
Last October, Insider detailed the expansive plans of JPMorgan’s new US wealth-management division, headed by longtime bank exec and former Chief Marketing Officer Kristin Lemkau. The bank now counts about 4,000 advisors across Chase branches, the bank’s new National Branch business, and full-service advisors in JPMorgan Advisors.
Lemkau told Insider that JPMorgan is considering hiring as many as 4,000 financial advisors in the next five to six years.
Within wealth management, Chase launched a two-year Advisor Growth Program earlier this year that focuses on client relationships and business development, a spokesperson for the bank said.
In Chase branches, wealth has been just one focus of the broader push to train employees for future branch work that will be less transactional and more advice and service-based, according to Baron.
“Wealth management is a focus of ours because it’s the focus for our customers, and this does allow us to make those warm hand offs where appropriate. But it’s broader than just wealth management. It’s really thinking about whatever the needs of our customers are,” Baron said.
The broader remit of associate bankers, for example, will now see them move throughout the branch with a tablet instead of remaining behind a teller line.
Relationship bankers, meanwhile, are also being trained to handle business banking and home lending questions from Chase customers, the bank said.
Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at cjohnson@insider.com, Signal (646-376-6028) or direct message on Twitter @hcarterjohnson.
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