JPMorgan Chase signals long runway ahead in North Florida push still ‘just starting’ (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — JPMorgan Chase Bank had one North Florida branch when it entered the market in 2012. Today, it has 26. Travis Ramsey’s been at the opening of every single one.
The Jacksonville consumer banking market director plays a front box role in the bank’s local presence — an operation growing as quickly as the region it sits in.
Investing heavily in North Florida the past few years, Chase renewed its enthusiasm this week, promising to bring at least four new branches over the next three years.
With one opened in Baymeadows Village this week, soon to be followed by another in St. Johns County, Ramsey told the Business Journal Chase is only “just starting” to meet demand.
“If you live in the Northeast, Chase has been there for 200 years,” he said. “Walk out of your house and see three or four Chases. Obviously that’s not the case here.”
The bank didn’t just arrive in Jacksonville 14 years ago — it accelerated into it. When Chase first pushed into North Florida in the early 2010s, its presence was little more than a corporate-center branch.
For Ramsey, who moved to Jacksonville 16 years ago from New York City and now calls Nocatee home, the growth has steadily scaled from a tentative foothold to a full-scale drive in one of the U.S.’s fastest-growing metro areas.
When JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon visited Jacksonville in 2024, he said the company was leaning into the region: “Jacksonville was actually the first new market we ever put a branch in, because I wanted to test ‘can you go to a new market and build a profitable thing.’ And that branch is now 20; that 20 is going to 30.”
Over the two years since, the bank’s growth has been heavily concentrated in St. Johns County, Ramsey said, part of explosive population growth in the area.
In St. Johns alone, Chase branches have more than $801 million in matching deposits, according to the latest FDIC data. Florida-wide, the company reported more than $75.7 billion in matching deposits, per FDIC data.
As the bank charges forward toward renewed goals, its expansions targets are ever-moving as it tracks client need and demand.
That’s the case of its Sawgrass branch, which is in the process of being relocated. Marand Builders Inc. was issued a $3.46 million permit by St. Johns in July 2025 for a buildout at 1000 Sawgrass Village Drive, Suite 100.
Its latest branches — one at 9810 Baymeadows Road opened Wednesday, plus another incoming to Palencia Village next week — will meet a commitment by the company to grow its Northeast Florida presence by 50%.
Each new branch opening in North Florida is a reflection of the increased commitment by the national Chase leadership. That dynamic has shaped Jacksonville’s ascent in the company, according to Ramsey.
“There are areas of the country where we project we’re going to have more growth than others,” he said. “Jacksonville is one of those places. I don’t think the growth is going to stop any time soon. It may slow down, or ebb and flow, but there’s still a lot of runway here.”