JPMorgan’s ‘American Dream’ Aims for 10 Million Small Business Clients

JPMorgan Chase has launched a program aimed at boosting economic opportunity around the U.S.

The “American Dream Initiative” will focus on six areas, with an early emphasis on small businesses, the banking giant said in a Tuesday (March 31) news release.

“The American dream is alive, but it’s slipping out of reach for too many people—and for future generations,” JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in the release.

“This slows economic growth, hurts communities and prevents many people from getting ahead. By reigniting the American Dream through smart local investments and policies that we know work, we can work together to make the economy benefit more people—helping them buy homes, get good jobs and build better lives.”

According to the release, the initiative will start with a push to support 10 million small businesses — up from the current 7 million level — over the next several years.

This will include increasing access to capital, both directly from the bank and in tandem with community development financial institutions and federal lending programs, with the goal of providing close to $80 billion in lending to small businesses across the next 10 years.

The bank also plans to expand its “Coaching for Impact” program, with the goal of mentoring nearly 115,000 total small business owners in more than 80 cities over the next decade. JPMorgan also wants to hire 1,000 more small business bankers for its branch network and double the number of its senior business consultants to 150.

JPMorgan’s effort to connect with more small businesses is happening as the business payments world is on the edge of a modernization, as PYMNTS wrote Tuesday. This is happening as “the entrenched position of cash and checks will be whittled down by digital, flexibility methods of small business payments.”

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence and Mastercard has found that nearly half of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are highly interested in lessening their dependence on cash even as legacy methods continue to dominate critical workflows.

“Cash retains a prominent role in day-to-day activity, particularly among younger operators and smaller firms,” the report said. “Among Gen Z-owned businesses, just over half of payments are made in cash. This reliance reflects immediacy. Cash supports in-person transactions, rapid turnover and tight liquidity management in sectors such as restaurants and personal services.”

Checks have hung around for a different reason, as businesses that have been in operation for decades rely on checks because they fit invoicing cycles, approval chains and recordkeeping. Among firms in business for at least 20 years, 54% of payments are made with checks.