Jamie Dimon talks stagflation, competing as ‘little guy’ in Bank of America’s yard

Toppling Bank of America’s crown in Charlotte? Jamie Dimon wouldn’t rule it out.

The chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, the country’s biggest bank by assets, stopped in the city on Thursday, visiting with employees at a Chase branch in uptown Charlotte.

The branch — coincidentally located across the street from competitor Bank of America’s corporate headquarters — opened in early 2020. It was Chase’s first location in the city.

Now, the New York-based bank is up to 17 branches throughout the Charlotte region, with three more slated to open in 2023.

“We’re going to double down,” Dimon told employees. “We’re not gonna stop.”

JP Morgan Chase has about $3.4 trillion in assets— but here in Banktown, it punches well below its weight, controlling only 0.12% of the deposit market.

In an interview with The Charlotte Observer, Dimon said he’s confident that’ll change.

The Observer sat down briefly with Dimon. Here’s what he had to say about expanding in North Carolina, competing in Charlotte and the “storm clouds” looming over the U.S. economy.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

30 branches across North Carolina since 2019— why so many?

“If you laid out a map, and you said you want to open branches — one or two, that’s not enough. You’ve got to have a plan. The plan is to cover where you live, where you work, high population (areas)… It includes that we have small businesses, middle market companies, low income neighborhoods, higher income neighborhoods — that’s the plan. Then we roll it all out, and we bring in other stuff to support it.”

What’s the ultimate goal?

“To be the best bank in North Carolina. It’ll take a long time. Our shares are very small, but we’re patient. Here, we’re the little guy.”

Can you out-do local bank competition?

“You don’t know me very well, if you don’t think I aspire (to that). Of course, we can’t do it overnight. The next generation can finish that job.

“But again, if you made a map of the United States, and you put a dot around all the major metropolitan areas, and then you made them green if it was growing rapidly and red if it wasn’t, this would be a green one… so it’s kind of a no brainer. “

On the economy:

“The stronger economy is meeting head on with inflation, rates, oil, QT (quantitative tightening), war, Russia, global uncertainty… and you’ve seen the results: volatile markets, things are down. People are getting nervous. Home prices stop going up, (though) that’s probably a good thing. So yeah, that’s exactly what’s happening.”

Note: In Dimon’s annual letter to shareholders in April, he talked about looming challenges like increasing inflation, conflict in Ukraine and the lasting impact of pandemic-era government programs.

Did he predict it accurately?

“I don’t think I crystal-balled it. I think those things were actually there. That’s why I called them storm clouds…. they create a huge amount of uncertainty. They will have a guaranteed effect on the economy and more volatility. But I don’t know better than anyone else whether it’s gonna be a soft landing, medium landing, hard landing, or something even worse than that.”

Note: A “soft” versus “hard landing” is often used to describe the possible outcomes of the U.S. Federal Reserve attempting to control inflation. In the first scenario, the country’s central bank raises interest rates just enough to slow price increases without tipping the economy into a recession. In a “hard landing,” it triggers a downturn.

“I do know that the extent of this stuff taking place is abnormal,” Dimon continued. “You have to be prepared for the outcomes to be worse than you think… That’s just risk management. That’s not forecasting the future.”

On the threat of stagflation and the worst outcomes for the U.S. economy: