March 04, 2009

JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon said Monday that the new owner of Washington Mutual plans to expand in the Puget Sound region by adding new branches and employees to staff those offices.While he didn’t disclose details, Dimon said the company is opening 120 new branches across the country this year and will be “consistently” opening in the Northwest.That means the company could be hiring everything from tellers to bankers and mortgage lenders, said Dimon in an interview with the Puget Sound Business Journal.

This is the first time the head of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) has spoken to the Seattle media since the company took over WaMu last September.On Monday, JPMorgan announced that it has appointed Seattle Foundation chief executive Phyllis Campbell as its new chairman of the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle bank’s transition to JPMorgan will be finished by the end of June.Dimon said that JPMorgan is “mostly done” cutting WaMu employees after announcing late last year that it would lay off 9,200 workers nationwide.