Florida’s Banking Center
Jacksonville is historically Florida’s banking capital, and Northeast Florida
continues to be a center of financial activity.
Jacksonville earned its reputation
JACKSONVILLE AND NORTHEAST FLORIDA SPONSORED SECTION 29
as Florida’s banking center in the
20th century, and even as the financial
services industry consolidates in
the 21st century, Northeast Florida
continues to be a hotbed of banking
activity.
The U.S. has four dominant banking
companies with more than $1 trillion in
assets, and all four have major operations
centers in Jacksonville.
It starts with Bank of America, which
already had a large banking presence
in Jacksonville after acquiring Jacksonville’s
biggest homegrown bank,
Barnett, in 1998.
But Bank of America grew its Jacksonville
operation even more through
its 2009 merger with Merrill Lynch,
which had its own office campus on
the city’s Southside. Bank of America
now employs about 8,000 people in
the area.
Citibank isn’t a player in the
Northeast Florida banking market,
with just one consumer branch, but
it’s a major employer with more
than 4,000 workers in Jacksonville
supporting customer operations.
JPMorgan Chase was also not a
player in the local banking market but
became a major employer in 2008 by
acquiring a mortgage company that
traced its roots in Jacksonville to the
19th century. Its Chase Bank unit began
opening branches in Northeast Florida
in 2013, and it now has nearly 4,000
employees in the region.
Finally, Wells Fargo, which has the
largest branch network of any bank in
the Jacksonville area, has about 3,500
employees.
The low cost
of space
and ease of
staffing make
the area
attractive for
big banks.
— Cindy Stover
TD Bank
North Florida
Market President