A.G. Gancarski
When Deutsche Bank came to Jacksonville eight years ago, the commitment was for 1,000 jobs.
For JAXUSA president Jerry Mallot and civic leaders, that had them on “pins and needles” then.
Now? There were 350 new jobs announced Tuesday, 100 of which have already been added, with a commitment to 2,800 local financial services positions in total.
Mallot noted the “back office operation evolved into a really integrated bank,” with a “serious international global location,” thanks to “great talent” at a “reasonable cost.”
All of the speakers on hand, including Gov. Rick Scott, Mayor Lenny Curry, and Deutsche Bank executives, spoke in similarly glowing terms about Deutsche Bank’s expansion in Jacksonville, where the local headquarters has become a linchpin of the bank’s strategy to “optimize its global footprint.”
Jacksonville is now the largest Deutsche Bank operation outside of New York City.
CEO John Cryan called the Jacksonville site a “role model” for the global operation at large, with metrics such as job satisfaction, retention, and mobility being especially strong.
Scott lauded Curry as a “great partner in job creation,” noting correctly the mayor “married well,” before pivoting to a familiar message, saying that 250 more families “will have a chance for the dream of this country.”
Curry, meanwhile, has become better at echoing the governor.
“The most important thing in communities is jobs,” Curry said, emphasizing the importance of “capital investment and job creation.”
“People who moved to Jacksonville five, 10, 15 years ago,” Curry related, “once settled, they don’t want to leave.”
Despite Jacksonville’s apparent economic devastation noticed by the GOP presidential nominee, stories like this, the 1,500 new jobs from an Amazon Distribution Center, and 800 more jobs at Citibank suggest perhaps Mr. Trump may not have a full command of the facts when it comes to Northeast Florida.
