JPMorgan to open 50 branches, hire 300 staff in Philadelphia region

JPMorgan Chase has unveiled details about the next stop in its nationwide retail rollout: the Philadelphia region.

JPMorgan says it will open about 50 Chase branches and hire about 300 workers in Philadelphia, Delaware and southern New Jersey over the next five years.

The expansion details were announced Monday ahead of Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon's address to the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. JPMorgan’s plans to enter Philadelphia had been previously announced, but the details were new.

“The Delaware Valley is an incredibly important market for us,” Dimon said in a news release. “We already have thousands of employees here that serve our customers every day. This will create even more well-paying jobs with health care and retirement plans for people in the area, and better serve our existing and new customers.”

In its Philadelphia expansion, JPMorgan plans to pay workers a minimum of $16.50 per hour plus full benefits. Also, JPMorgan will invest $3 billion in mortgage and small-business lending in the region, and it will invest $5 million to support neighborhood revitalization efforts in the Kensington Avenue community of Philadelphia.

JPMorgan already has about 11,000 workers in the Philadelphia region, including its credit card operations in Wilmington, Del.

JPMorgan is also opening branches in Washington, Boston and other cities as part of a program to open about 400 branches nationwide over five years.