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Chase slips up

A JPMorgan Chase executive said this week that clients who have less than $100,000 in deposits are unprofitable for the bank. New York bureau chief Heidi Moore discusses consumer reaction to that statement, and what it means for the bank.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon
ERIC PIERMONT/AFP/Getty Images

This week a JPMorgan Chase executive said that clients who have less than $100,000 in deposits are unprofitable for the bank. Sounds mean, but banks are doing their best to improve profits by pushing the less-than-wealthy toward digital banking. Fees are on the rise, too. Someone may have to fund the new luxury banking rooms Chase will construct so that the rich can bank in peace.

“If you’re a customer of Wells Fargo, for instance, if you have less than three checking accounts, or you don’t have a mortgage with the bank, they’re going to charge you $15,” says Marketplace’s New York bureau chief Heidi Moore. “Citibank customers are being charged $20 per month unless they have $15,000 just sitting around in their accounts. A lot of these solutions are going to be very quiet, though. The banks don’t want the same rebellion that Bank of America got when it talked about that $5 debit fee.”

Click on the audio player above to listen to the full interview.

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