JPMorgan Chase is doubling down on its physical branches in the Carolinas as part of a strategy to gather more consumer deposits and sell more fee-based services including wealth management advice.

Chase Bank said it will open branches in cities where it already has a presence like Charlotte and Raleigh in North Carolina and will expand into new markets that include Greensboro, North Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina. It hopes to operate more than 100 branches in the Carolinas by 2025, up 108.3% from its current 48 locations.

Although many consumers have switched to mobile phone apps and websites to conduct routine business transactions like depositing checks, banks still see value in brick-and-mortar locations. Branch offices provide an opportunity for banks to sell mortgages and trust services and advise on ways to manage wealth.

Banks are also required by federal law to operate physical branches in low-income and economically distressed areas. New York-based JPMorgan Chase said its Carolinas expansion will include the addition of branches in such communities, though it didn’t specify where.

Meanwhile, banks frequently close branches in areas where foot traffic has declined in order to help cut costs. Wells Fargo in May closed 17 branches in Atlanta, Houston, New York, San Francisco and other markets.

JPMorgan Chase also said it will expand its commercial banking office at the Rotunda Building in Charlotte, adding 24,000 square feet. It will hire 200 employees to work in the larger office. JPMorgan is the nation's second-largest lender of commercial properties after San Francisco-based Wells Fargo.

“We will continue to invest in the region, hiring top talent to join our banking technology, lending, client service and onboarding teams,” Dan Wilkening, commercial banking chief administrative officer, said in the release.

JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank by total assets, is expanding on the home turf of Charlotte-based Bank of America, which is also planning to enter new markets over the next few years.

JPMorgan Chase did not provide specific locations for its planned new branches in the Carolinas or say if the expansion will include new construction or leases of existing properties.

Other details of JPMorgan Chase's expansions include:

• Opening two branches in low-income communities in the Charleston, South Carolina, area by the end of 2023.
• Open four branches in the Charlotte area by the end of 2024.
• Open its first two locations in the Columbia, South Carolina, market by the end of 2023.
• Open its first three branches in the Greensboro and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, area by the end of 2024.
• Open its first two branches in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, area in the next two to three years.
• Open six branches in the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, market by the end of 2024.