Chris Lloyd joined JPMorgan Chase & Co. in September as health care and life sciences managing director for the Northeast. In this role, he will lead a team to bringing tailored financial solutions to startups and high-growth companies in health care and life sciences industries. Lloyd most recently served as East Coast managing director for Comerica Bank, managing the bank’s technology and life sciences division.
PBN: What drew you to this position?
LLOYD: JPMorgan is a recognized leader in the health care industry. We are known for our highly regarded annual industry conference in San Francisco each January and have built a dedicated ecosystem around entrepreneurs and the venture-capital community from early stage lending to mergers and acquisitions or initial public offerings.
The innovation economy is booming in New England. One of my responsibilities in this new role is to identify innovative health care and life [sciences] companies that will benefit from our commercial banking, asset management, investment banking and capital markets capabilities, and to bring them tailored financial solutions that go beyond traditional banking.
I’ve spent over 20 years in the banking industry focused on technology and health care businesses, and the opportunity to help build out a specialty business with the brand and platform of JPMorgan was really attractive to me.
PBN: What services can JPMorgan Chase offer to local health care and life sciences companies?
LLOYD: Innovative companies are growing at a fast clip and basic banking needs can quickly turn complex as rapid growth often creates additional needs or requirements. According the 2020 JPMorgan Chase Business Leaders Outlook, 65% of small businesses report having experienced unexpected growth and of these companies, 91% have gone through it more than once.
Our bankers bring JPMorgan’s technology capabilities and global reach to the local business community in Providence to support companies through every stage of growth. We offer treasury solutions specifically tailored to the needs of each business large and small, along with credit and financing, payments and merchant services, and international banking capabilities and expertise.
PBN: What do you predict to be the biggest local trends and changes in middle market financing in the next year?
LLOYD: Banking has always been a competitive business, and as the current economic cycle continues, I expect we will see attractive terms being offered in the market.
According to this year’s Business Leaders Outlook, nearly half of respondents [47%] are doing business internationally and most remain bullish about expanding their global footprint. In Rhode Island, especially, international growth is a top priority for most.
PBN: What are JPMorgan’s plans to grow its presence in Rhode Island specifically? What types of services are most in demand in the state?
LLOYD: JPMorgan Chase has a strong commitment to Rhode Island. My team will be joining our on-the-ground commercial banking employees in our Providence office. I was brought on to directly expand our health care and life sciences business in the Northeast. My territory covers New England to Washington, D.C., but the growth in Rhode Island is an important part of our expansion efforts to reach and support more business leaders.
In addition to the growing commercial banking team, we have two Chase branches in downtown Providence, with 10 more branches and more than 30 ATMs expected in the next few years.
PBN: How has the presence of fintech impacted or changed JPMorgan Chase’s banking services?
LLOYD: Last year, JPMorgan Chase invested over $11 billion in technology, and we are constantly innovating to create better tools and solutions to make our clients’ lives easier. One particular client pain point and area of focus is managing payments – using automation to improve cash flow and remove paper from business processes.
Several years ago, we launched an enhanced digital banking platform called Chase Connect, which is customized to meet the needs of small and midsized companies. The platform provides our clients with a simple and convenient experience, integrating account information, payables and receivables.
Our technology investment is not limited to our commercial banking clients. We’ve worked to make financial tools more accessible to our customers wherever they may be. This includes the in-branch experience and smart-ATMS featured in our Providence branches, which now feature 70% of the capabilities our branch associates can perform.
Nancy Lavin is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at Lavin@PBN.com.
