JPMorgan is converting old First Republic branches into luxury incubators to study the rich

Last May, JPMorgan Chase purchased a majority stake in First Republic Bank, which was stumbling toward insolvency after many of its affluent clients pulled $100 billion in a single quarter. Nearly a third of the $92 billion in deposits JPMorgan received from the deal came from “large” bank accounts.

While some First Republic branches were open the day the deal was announced, JPMorgan is now in the process of converting others into luxury branches, or what the bank is calling JPMorgan Financial Centers. A spokesperson from JPMorgan Chase tells Fortune that not only are the select locations being designed to cater to affluent customers, but that lessons learned will be fed back into JPMorgan’s broader network, which includes 4,900 branches in 48 states and the District of Columbia.

“Ultimately, our learnings from JPM Financial Centers will be rolled out to the broader Chase network,” the spokesperson, further elaborating that the first two luxury locations repurposed from First Republic, one in New York, the other in San Francisco, are set to open this fall, with at least three more in Florida planned for early next year.

The financial centers are expected to be luxury properties where eligible clients will work directly with a single private-client banker. That senior banker will in turn coordinate across JPMorgan’s offices in banking, lending, and wealth management. JPMorgan didn't respond to a request for additional details on what makes a client eligible, but a January 2023 First Republic investor deck shows that from Q1 2021 to Q4 2022 the median loan size at First Republic was $900,000.

'White-glove' service

The day JPMorgan announced it had bought the First Republic stake it reopened 84 branches, according to an FDIC statement. The month after the transition, however, JPMorgan told Reuters it would close 21 of those. By the end of the year, Chase Consumer Banking CEO Jennifer Roberts elaborated that some of the branches would be made over to serve wealthier clients. Apparently, in spite of First Republic’s behind-the-scenes failures, Roberts was impressed with its “white-glove” customer service.

The following month, Chase, the U.S. consumer and commercial banking business of JPMorgan Chase & Co., formally announced "multibillion-dollar" plans to expand services to affluent clients. At the time, the still-unnamed program consisted of 20 branches across the country, including those under construction at Columbus Circle in New York City and on Pine Street in San Francisco.

“Most of these locations were previously First Republic offices that will be converted into an entirely new experience, leveraging First Republic’s existing branch format—open meeting space and large living rooms, private meeting spaces and board rooms, and a signature library,” according to a statement at the time. There are now 22 centers being developed, according to the spokesperson.

The Florida financial centers are part of a broader expansion announced last week, including a new 13,000-square-foot corporate office in West Palm Beach and an expanded downtown Miami office, which will double in size to 160,000 square feet, slightly more than half the size of a New York City block.

The Miami offices are a "strategic location" for JPMorgan's Latin America operations, according to a statement from Jonathan Bello, the head of Chase for Business Miami and cochair of the firm’s South Florida Market Leadership Team.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com