The century-old investment firm Edward Jones is expanding into banking with new customer checking accounts, credit cards and lending options—just don't ask Penny Pennington if her ambition is to join the ranks of the bulge bracket.
When asked if that's her plan, Pennington, who leads 55,000 Edward Jones employees as the company's managing director, said she never quite understood its meaning. (It comes from when financial deals were published in "tombstone" advertisements that listed leading banks in larger and bolder font that bulged out at the reader).
"I don't want Edward Jones to be defined by any of those terms," Pennington said in an interview. "I want us to be defined by our clients as the place that they go to improve their financial fulfillment."
Speaking of improving finances, Pennington has overseen impressive growth at Edward Jones. Assets under management grew to a record $2.5 trillion last year, up 14% from 2024, while net revenue rose 11% to $18 billion. Since she became managing partner in 2019, Edward Jones has climbed 96 positions in the Fortune 500, to 260 from 356.
Driving all of this is the push to offer integrated banking services to the firm's clients.
"Life is really complicated from the standpoint of all the financial tools and responsibilities that people have as they're growing their wealth," Pennington said. "We're trying to ease the anxiety associated with all of that by becoming their financial homepage."
In October, Edward Jones began a partnership with U.S. Bank that allows clients to open checking accounts and credit cards; then in February of this year, it received conditional approval to create Edward Jones Bank, which is expected to open in early 2027 and will offer expanded nationwide lending and deposit options.
Pennington said the firm wanted to partner with U.S. Bank rather than build its own systems and that the regulatory environment with a new administration in power in 2025 allowed them to revisit the expanded banking-services plan.
Pennington has divergent views on the two largest technological forces shaping banking now—artificial intelligence and digital assets.
"Let's use AI to automate the ordinary so that we can humanize the extraordinary," she said. Edward Jones advisors interact with clients 100,000 a day, she said. Mining that enormous pool of information is a no-brainer when it comes to AI.
On digital assets she's not so confident—yet. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not a luddite," Pennington said. "Those new technologies are going to be very beneficial, but I also think we have to examine carefully how we develop the sturdiness, the resilience and the systems of trust that are layered into our current financial systems today."
