JPMorgan is hiring bankers in a city near you

pulse

February 28, 2017 3:26 PM

The commercial banking division is expanding.

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JPMorgan is looking to hire bankers in a city near you.

The US bank hosted its annual investor day Tuesday February 28, and Doug Petno, chief executive of commercial banking at the company, delivered a presentation.

Commercial banking looks after Middle Market Banking (MMBSI) clients, or companies with between $20 million and $500 million in revenue, and Corporate Client Banking (CCBSI), which covers those with $500 million to $2 billion in revenue.

Smaller companies are served by Chase Business Banking and bigger companies are served by the Corporate and Investment Banking division.

The commercial banking business has been expanding, adding more than 150 revenue-producing bankers between 2014 and 2016, according to a slide.

There has been a 17% year-on-year increase in specialized industry bankers, according to another slide.

The bank has pushed into new markets like Palo Alto and Memphis, and plans to have a presence in the top 50 Metropolitan Statistical Areas ranked by population by the end of this year. Right now, it's in 48.

The number of client calls was up 13% year-on-year, while the number of new relationships is up 14%. The long term target is to generate $1 billion in revenues from expansion markets, up from $411 million in 2016.

Asked by an analyst about the expansion effort, Petno said that "it's not easy to hire good bankers."

"There's not a banker tree ... The good ones are entrenched in the banks, and they're hard to pry out."

He added that employment growth had been limited by JPMorgan's ability to develop its own bankers in certain markets, and acquire bankers in others.

"We've been building very steadily," he said.

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