JPMorgan Chase wants a greater share of its affluent customers’ business – a move the bank said could increases its pre-tax profits from $500 million to $1 billion annually.
Chase said just 8 percent of its retail customers are “affluent,” defined as having deposits and investments totaling at least $500,000.
But the bank’s new strategy is to earn more than the current 5 percent share of those assets, and attract new affluent customers.
Chase, the second largest U.S. bank by assets, has named Barry Sommers to the newly created role of CEO of Retail Affluent and Investment Services, reporting to Charlie Scharf, head of Retail Financial Services.
Sommers is moving from his position as CEO of J.P. Morgan Securities, formerly known as Bear Stearns Private Client Services. He also served in senior asset management roles at Bear Stearns, and was part of the asset management sales team at Goldman Sachs focusing on high-net-worth individuals and institutions.
“We have made this initiative a strategic priority at JPMorgan Chase because we can do far more for the affluent clients who already like doing business with Chase through our extensive branch and ATM networks,” Scharf said.”We will leverage the investment expertise of J.P. Morgan, develop our products, sharpen our marketing and improve our service model to meet the unique needs of affluent customers.”
Sommers will be responsible for the 2,700 financial advisors that serve Chase customers through more than 5,100 branches across the country.
