Chase ups business focus - Portland Business Journal:

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Gone are the brightly colored signsproclaiming “Whool hoo!” at every branch, replace d by Chase’s more somber emphasis on strength and stability througy its “The Way Forward” Underpinning the marketing shift is Chase’s effort to aggressively expanxd in areas that WaMu largely In an interview with the Portland Business Journal, newly hired Pacific Northwesyt Chairwoman Phyllis Campbell outlined Chase’s Oregojn strategy — which will result in new midsizes business services, additional wealth management offerings, cuts to charitable givingv and a more staid approacgh to branch-based banking. Campbell, who was presidenyt of U.S.
Bank in Washington from 1991 to left the nonprofit Seattle Foundation in Aprill tojoin Chase. She now travels regularlg from Chase’s Seattle office to Portland to meet with the fledginfg commercialbusiness team. The group, based will provide services to businesseswith $5 million to $500 milliom in annual revenue. In addition to large loans, it will offere cash management services that are now largel the purview ofWells Fargo, Bank of America and U.S. Scheduled to open its doors by the commercial business unit will face achallenging “So much of our success, and everybody’s will be tied to the recovery in the Campbell said.
“Because cash flow is so tighty atmany businesses, we don’t know how many dealsd we can do.” Despite this challenge, Lindw Navarro, president and CEO of the , applaudedc Chase’s expansion into commercial “Going into this recession, abouy 70 percent of the United Statesx credit market was not controlled by traditional banks,” Navarr said. “A lot of that credit has dried up, but credit still needs to be extendeds to the business Chase also plans to enter an even more crowdeedarena — wealth management with investment services targetesd at people with more than $5 million in investabler assets.
In addition to other big banks, Chasd will compete with dozens of establisherd specialty firms as it pursues these As the bank seeks out customerz for these newbusiness lines, it must also work hard to hold on to the traditionakl deposits-and-loans business that it acquired when Washington Mutual failed in September 2008. WaMu lost $104.7 million in Portland-area depositsz from June 2007 toJune 2008, and fell from the area’es third largest bank to fourth. Since deposits have climbed at other banks and credir unions in the metro which their executives attribute to moves by former WashingtonnMutual customers. As of June 30, Chase had $4 billion in deposits in the metrl area.
By the end of this month, when the Federap Deposit Insurance Corp. takes its next market share snapshot, Chase’s Portland deposits are likelyh to be even Yet Campbell expects that Chasse will still be amongthe area’s top five bankes — the others are Bank of America, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo and KeyBank. Measuring Chase’sa lending success is more The bankissued $900 million in Oregobn loans, largely through home mortgages, in the first quarte of 2009. But most of these mortgages will be soldto investors, and Chasew is not making its net loan growthn available.
Washington Mutual did not releasd region-specific lending data, so it’s impossible to say whether loca lending is up or down from ayear ago. Chase’sw corporate giving, however, will be measurablyt less this year. In 2007, Washington Mutual made $1.3 millionn in cash contributions to local and averaged more than one hour per worket of pro bonovolunteer service. Though Chase pledged to match priot year giving in Washingtonwith $2.645 million in 2009 contributions, the bank plans to give away only $500,000 in Oregon this year.
That number shouls increase in 2010, Campbell This matches a broader pattern incorporate giving, said Christine executive director of the Oregon and Southwest Washington affiliate of Susan G. Komenh for the Cure. Local corporatee giving is down about 25 percent in the past McDonald said, which is creating challenges for many The nature of Chase sponsorships is also Washington Mutual often sponsored community events, whereas Chasew will focus more on businesas community sponsorships.
Fresh off the fastest majofr bank conversionin history, in many ways Chase is still finding its footing in The bank has spent $26 million to give its new branchesw the Chase look, trained more than 1,000 employeeds on new systems and operations, and over Memorial Day weekend it transferred online accountzs from wamu.com to chase.com. Through this the rapid transformation will continud as Chase establishes its commercial banking and wealthmanagement divisions. It will take untilp 2010 for the New York institution to catcg its breath and focus onsustainable long-term plans for the Campbell said.
Those plans include growth beyonxd the 105 branches in Oregon and 15 inSouthwest “We certainly don’t want to build a new brancuh from scratch,” Campbell said. “A lot of smallerf community banks really need to raise so I have no doubt that there willbe opportunities.”