A lime-green sign over the teller station still promised Washington Mutual customers “cash, deposits & free smiles” Wednesday afternoon at the company’s 1102 Pacific Ave. location in Tacoma.
But signs at branches across the Northwest – and all other remnants of the $1 billion in renovations WaMu made during the last few years – will be gone by late spring. WaMu collapsed last September and was sold by regulators to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The blue Chase Bank apparel tellers are donning already is a taste of what’s to come as new owner JPMorgan Chase replaces WaMu’s new-age look with a more traditional style.
All 192 former WaMu branches in Washington are among the 900 nationwide being remodeled by October. The design will return to a more traditional bank layout with teller windows.
Chase spokeswoman Darcy Donahoe-Wilmot said the visual change will be vital to the re-branding effort, especially in areas such as the Northwest where Chase had no branches before the purchase.
Despite the new image, JPMorgan Chase does not want customers to experience unnecessary changes in the way they bank.
“The goal is not to have any change for customers at all,” Donahoe-Wilmot said. And the branch makeovers are “just a more traditional style of banking, which is easier for people to navigate.”
Leslie Walters stopped by the Pacific Avenue branch for the first time Wednesday to make a deposit for her son and could barely find her way to the teller station.
“That was really confusing for me,” she said after exiting the bank still bearing the WaMu name on its sign out front. “I went to the wrong place.”
Other than her disoriented journey to the teller station, she said the service was excellent. A teller caught an error she had made on the deposit and saved her some money.
But still she wrinkled her nose at the branch’s edgy style, which WaMu named “Occasio,” or “favorable opportunity” in Latin.
Ron Larter, a WaMu customer for 15 years, said the interior of his bank doesn’t make a difference to him.
“The way it is now versus the way it was before really doesn’t matter to me,” he said of the first round of renovations, which will give way to another round that could seem to turn back time with a more traditional look.
Charles Scharf, who runs the Chase unit of JPMorgan Chase, told The Wall Street Journal that traditional branches are “superior in every way.”
Though the look – an open lobby funneling customers toward a long counter of tellers – may be boring, it’s practical, he said.
Some tellers at the WaMu branches are learning for the first time how to count cash as their previous system of issuing tickets for the automated cash dispensers is replaced.
For Washington customers and employees, the obvious changes – a Chase sign out front and the shift to more muted interior décor – will culminate on “New Chase Day” sometime in late spring.
Other changes included in the Chase transition have been less noticeable – and less welcome for some employees.
Starting Wednesday, former WaMu employees no longer can access their personal e-mail accounts while at work, a policy by which all JPMorgan Chase employees abide.
Donahoe-Wilmot said employees who need e-mail access as they look for other jobs during their last 60 days can use kiosks in company lobbies.
JPMorgan Chase is still working through the layoffs of 3,400 WaMu employees. The reduction, which was announced in December, is to reduce a duplication of services in the banks it acquired. With the purchase of WaMu, JPMorgan Chase’s branch network expanded to more than 5,000.
Though no WaMu branches in Washington are included in the 100 that will close, a check-processing unit in Tukwilla taken over by JPMorgan Chase announced Wednesday that it will close.
Formerly owned by national company Unisys, the company has 45 employees. They will work their last days in early June.
Former WaMu branches in California completed the re-branding transitions March 30, with Washington, Oregon and Idaho set to follow.
Whitney Coleman: 253-597-8546
blogs.thenewstribune.com/business
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