Coronavirus Update: JPMorgan Chase To Close 1,000 Bank Branches Over COVID-19 Concerns

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is reportedly temporarily closing about 1,000 branches and reducing staff at the ones that will remain open during the coronavirus pandemic, effective on Friday.

“We are planning to temporarily close about 20% of our branches,” the bank told employees in a memo obtained by CNBC on Wednesday. “This will help us protect our employees as we provide essential services to our customers and the communities we serve.”

JPMorgan said in the memo that despite the closures, the remaining bank network would be enough to serve its communities and that all company’s financial advisors and mortgage bankers would start working from home on Friday to help reduce headcount at branches.

Bank customers will have the option of going through the drive-through or receiving assistance from tellers behind glass, which the bank said was designed to “further safeguard employees and customers” from the coronavirus, the news outlet said.

Hours of operation will also reportedly be reduced at the branches that will remain open, and JPMorgan will continue to pay employees based on their regular hours, CNBC said.

“Every day I’m asking what more I can do – as a mother, as a daughter and as a CEO,” Thasunda Brown Duckett, head of JPMorgan’s retail bank, said Wednesday in the staff memo. “You are my tribe and your health and safety is important to me. I am balancing that with the fact that we are essential to the communities we serve, and we need to be there to help.”

JPMorgan is the first U.S. bank to announce closures since the coronavirus pandemic started. The bank has nearly 4,900 branches and employs over 250,000 workers. It was unclear at the time of writing exactly which branch locations would be shut down.

Shares of JPMorgan Chase were up 3.54% as of 11:38 a.m. EST on Thursday.