JPMorgan Chase & Co. has doubled its automated teller machine network in New York City through a deal with the city's largest drugstore chain.
The deal could help fend off growing competition from other banks.
Under an agreement announced Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase's name will appear on the ATMs already in place at each of Duane Reade Inc.'s 246 stores in the metropolitan area. And since Monday the banking company's customers have been able to withdraw cash from those machines without charge.
At a Park Avenue drugstore, James Dimon, JPMorgan Chase's president and chief operating officer, touted the expansion Tuesday. Mr. Dimon said the deal should help the banking company win "more" market share in New York.
Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, said the move will raise the bar for challengers that are trying to expand in New York.
Bank of America Corp. and Wachovia Corp., both of Charlotte, are adding branches in Manhattan. TD Banknorth Inc. of Portland, Maine, which is majority owned by Toronto-Dominion Bank, has said it wants to enter the New York and New Jersey markets.
As a result of the drugstore deal, JPMorgan Chase now has ATMs in 515 locations, including bank branches, in New York City, and 1,600 in the tristate New York-New Jersey-Connecticut area.
"The value of having that many locations for your customers to use for free is huge," Mr. Kelly said. Being in Duane Reade stores "makes us much more convenient for customers and may cause noncustomers to say, 'Maybe I should be a Chase customer.' "
The company's Bank One brand has a similar ATM arrangement in Chicago with the Walgreen Co. drugstore chain, Mr. Kelly said.
Gary Charboneau, a senior vice president for sales and marketing at Duane Reade, said it has had ATMs in its stores since the late 1990s. JPMorgan Chase approached it late last year about the marketing arrangement, he said.
Customers conducted 3 million ATM transactions last year at Duane Reade stores, he said, and "we expect that, at a minimum, to double" with the Chase branding.
By Monday, the screens on all of the Duane Reade ATMs showed the Chase name, though Mr. Kelly said that placing Chase signage on the exterior of the machines will not be complete until next month.
Cardtronics Inc. of Houston operates the machines and will continue to do so.
