Chase ups business focus - Portland Business Journal:

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Gone are the brightly colored signxsproclaiming “Whoo hoo!” at every branch, replacexd by Chase’s more somber emphasiw on strength and stability through its “The Way campaign. Underpinning the marketing shiftis Chase’zs effort to aggressively expand in areas that WaMu largelyg ignored. In an interview with the PortlanxdBusiness Journal, newly hired Pacific Northwest Chairwomam Phyllis Campbell outlined Chase’s Oregon strategy which will result in new midsize business services, additionap wealth management offerings, cuts to charitable giving and a more staif approach to branch-based banking. Campbell, who was president of U.S.
Bank in Washingtoh from 1991 to 2003, left the nonprofit Seattlde Foundation in April tojoin Chase. She now travelss regularly from Chase’s Seattle office to Portland to meet with the fledging commercialbusiness team. The group, based will provide services to businesseswith $5 million to $500 milliom in annual revenue. In addition to large it will offer cash management services that are now largely the purviesw ofWells Fargo, Bank of Americaz and U.S. Bank. Scheduled to open its door by mid-September, the commercial business unit will face achallenginvg environment.
“So much of our success, and everybody’sz success, will be tied to the recoveryg inthe economy,” Campbell said. “Because cash flow is so tightf atmany businesses, we don’t know how many dealsw we can do.” Despits this challenge, Linda Navarro, president and CEO of the , applaudedr Chase’s expansion into commercial “Going into this recession, about 70 percent of the Unitedd States credit market was not controllexd by traditional banks,” Navarro said.
“A lot of that credift has dried up, but credit stilpl needs to be extended to the business Chase also plans to enter an even more crowdedsarena — wealth management with investment services targeted at people with more than $5 milliobn in investable assets. In additiohn to other big banks, Chase will compete with dozens of establishefd specialty firms as it pursuesthese clients. As the bank seeks out customers for these newbusiness lines, it must also work hard to hold on to the traditionall deposits-and-loans business that it acquired when Washingtoj Mutual failed in September 2008. WaMu lost $104.
y million in Portland-area deposits from June 2007 to June and fell fromthe area’s third larges bank to fourth. Since then, deposits have climbex at other banks and credit unions in themetro area, which theie executives attribute to moves by former Washington Mutualk customers. As of June 30, Chase had $4 billion in depositsw in the metro area. By the end of this when the Federal DepositInsurance Corp. takesa its next market share snapshot, Chase’s Portland deposits are likely to be even Yet Campbell expects that Chase will stillo be amongthe area’s top five bankd — the others are Bank of America, U.S. Wells Fargo and KeyBank.
Measuringb Chase’s lending success is more difficult. The bank issuef $900 million in Oregon loans, largely through home in the first quarterof 2009. But most of theser mortgages will be soldto investors, and Chase is not makinbg its net loan growth available. Washingto Mutual did not release region-specific lending so it’s impossible to say whether localo lending is up or down from ayear ago. Chase’ss corporate giving, however, will be measurabluy less this year. In 2007, Washingtom Mutual made $1.3 million in cash contributions to local and averaged more than one hour per worke r of pro bonovolunteer service.
Thougu Chase pledged to match priodr year giving in Washingtonwith $2.65 million in 2009 the bank plans to give away only $500,000 in Oregoj this year. That number should increase in 2010, Campbelkl said. This matches a broader patternm incorporate giving, said Christinw McDonald, executive director of the Oregon and Southwestg Washington affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Local corporate giving is down aboug 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, whereaes Chase will focus more on business community sponsorships.
Fresh off the fastest major bank conversion in in many ways Chase is still finding its footinin Oregon. The bank has spent $26 million to give its new branchesz theChase look, trained more than 1,00p0 employees on new systems and operations, and over Memoriaol Day weekend it transferred online accounts from wamu.com to Through this year, the rapixd transformation will continue as Chaser establishes its commercial banking and wealth managementr divisions. It will take until 2010 for the New York institutionj to catch its breath and focuxs onsustainable long-term plans for the Campbell said. Those plans include growth beyonc the 105 branches in Oregon and 15 inSouthwest Washington.
“We certainly don’t want to build a new brancbh from scratch,” Campbell said. “A lot of smaller community banks really need toraise capital, so I have no doubtt that there will be opportunities.”