First it was three, then it was six and now 18.
JPMorgan Chase confirmed today that it will have 18 of its planned retail branches in the Greater Boston area open by the end of 2019, continuing what has been a rapid retail expansion. The Boston Business Journal was first to report the story yesterday.
The banking giant in January announced broad plans to expand its retail presence into 15 to 20 new markets, including Boston, and open 400 new branches, which would employ 3,000 people. Fifty of those branches are planned for Massachusetts, with another 10 planned for other states in New England.
Those plans quickly began to come to fruition when JPMorgan began to move ahead with some of those planned 18 branches. The company received permission from state regulators to open two branches in Boston and one in Brookline in April. A Newton branch followed and then the company received permission for branches in Watertown and Dedham.
The Dedham branch, which is opening Thursday, will mark JPMorgan’s first official branch opening.
The rest of the 18 branches expected to open in 2019 will be in Boston in neighborhoods including the South End, Roxbury, North End, Jamaica Plain and Downtown Crossing; in communities surrounding Boston, including Belmont and Brookline; north of Boston in Lynnfield and Peabody and south of Boston in Quincy and Hingham.
JPMorgan also said it is actively hiring for all of its Greater Boston branches.
Entry-level employees will be paid no less than $18 per hour and will receive the firm’s full benefits package, which is valued at an average of $12,000 annually per employee in this pay range.