The conversion of 2.9 million accounts in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Utah follows the March conversion of 20 million credit card accounts onto Chase computer systems, increasing effectiveness and reducing costs in the process.

To ensure high-quality customer service, more than 1,100 Chase tellers and bankers traveled from around the country to work side by side with 6,300 counterparts in the Pacific Northwest, supplementing 100,000 hours of training on the new software and hardware.

"Our employees have done terrific work in converting 2.9 million accounts in record time -- just 33 weeks after we acquired WaMu's banking operations," said Charlie Scharf, head of Retail Financial Service at Chase, part of JPMorgan Chase & Co. "We are creating better service and convenience for our customers while becoming more efficient."

The Pacific Northwest conversion is the first of three retail conversions to bring all WaMu branches onto the Chase's computer systems - and under the Chase brand. By the end of the year, customers will have full access to 25 million checking accounts at any of more than 5,000 Chase branches and 14,500 Chase ATMs across the country.
JPMorgan Chase acquired the banking operations of Washington Mutual from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in September, 2008.

The conversion, completed over the past weekend, involved:

• The conversion of 2.9 million consumer banking, small business and other accounts onto a single deposit system. The accounts represent $20 billion in deposits.
• Preparations by 2,500 technology and business employees in the last six months.
• Hundreds of thousands of hours of programming and testing over seven months.