THE INQUIRER • How JPMorgan, Citizens, Wells Fargo and Fulton banks are vying for Philly dollars

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Originally published by The Philadelphia Inquirer


 

How JPMorgan, Citizens, Wells Fargo and Fulton banks are vying for Philly dollars

December 12, 2019

 

With all the smartphone apps, megamergers and branch closings that have disrupted the banking business, entrenched Philadelphia banks and new competitors are scrambling to gather deposits, train entrepreneurs, and give grants and loans.

Here’s a roundup:

JPMorgan Chase on Dec. 4 opened a branch at the shopping center on Grays Ferry Avenue, near Penn’s expanding Pennovation business-research complex, and higher-priced “Southwest Center City."

The nation’s biggest bank, which last winter opened the first of 50 planned offices in the Philadelphia area, used the occasion to announce a $1.5 million grant to the University City District “to expand its West Philadelphia Skills Initiative to North and South Philadelphia” over the next two years.

That eight-year-old program, headed by Matt Bergheiser, takes credit for prepping 1,000 city residents to work “quality jobs” at the universities. The Chase money adds Temple University and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. as partners, and furthers the bank’s ties to the city’s dominant employers.