The Bay Area may be hottest wealth market. Banks are racing to cash in

San Francisco’s finance sector is long past the glory days of “Wall Street West,” when it was the dominant industry in a rising metropolis built from the gold rush.

But the city’s beleaguered downtown has seen a recent boost in banks investing in new branches and hiring advisors to cater to the new generation of artificial intelligence riches.

“The Bay Area is arguably the most strategically important wealth market in the world right now,” said Liz Bryant, Citi’s region head of personal banking, mortgage and business banking. “We wanted to make sure we’re positioned to be able to serve the emergent wealth.”

Article continues below this ad

Citibank plans to double its San Francisco wealth advisors as part of a national expansion. It recently opened a new flagship branch at One California St., and another new branch is planned in Menlo Park next year.

JPMorganChase, the nation’s largest bank, is hiring 50 Bay Area business bankers in the next five years, issuing millions of dollars in local grants and funding a waterfront housing project near the Chase Center arena, where it already has naming rights.

But the growth plans aren’t offsetting broader cuts in the industry as old business models are disrupted. In 1990, San Francisco had around 80,000 financial services jobs. Now it’s down to around 50,000, according to state data.

Financial activity jobs shrunk by 3,300 between August 2025 and August 2026 in San Francisco and San Mateo county, according to state estimates. Even as it expands in business banking, JPMorgan laid off 152 workers in San Francisco between August 2025 and May, reflecting some of the challenges the industry is facing.

Some finance job cuts have been blamed on AI and automation and plans for efficiency. Nationally, finance jobs fell to a four-year low in August, with a growing share of new banking jobs listings calling for AI skills.

Article continues below this ad

San Francisco’s biggest hometown bank, Wells Fargo, has shrunk its workforce for five years in a row, including 27 local layoffs this year, and the bank sold its longtime Financial District headquarters building and moved its designation to a Market Street skyscraper. CEO Charlie Scharf told the San Francisco Business Times in March that the city remains “extremely important to us” and will continue to be the bank’s headquarters.

Still, Scharf is based in New York and Wells Fargo has more workers in Charlotte than the Bay Area.

San Francisco “shifted away from being a headquarters center for banks,” said Ted Egan, the city’s economist. “It’s a supporting industry to tech.”

In 1990, San Francisco had around 80,000 financial services jobs. Now it’s down to around 50,000, according to state data.

Midlevel banking jobs are generally going to cheaper markets, Egan said. However, some lucrative finance sector jobs in venture capital and private equity are migrating from places like Menlo Park’s Sand Hill Road to downtown San Francisco to be closer to AI.

Article continues below this ad

Increasingly, some companies are blurring the lines between tech and finance. “Fintech” startups like Chime, Brex and Coinbase have grown in San Francisco or returned after moving out during the pandemic. There’s also industry behemoth Visa, which opened a new office hub in Mission Rock in 2024.

“AI has different financing needs than the jobs of 10 years ago,” Egan said. “That’s not bringing tens of thousands of jobs.”

But finance’s “wages are super high,” Egan said.

And when Anthropic and other startups go public, elite investment bankers will have the biggest payday rather than junior staff, much like AI engineers are outearning some of their tech peers.

Bryant of Citibank sees a major opportunity in engaging those newly minted AI wealthy beneficiaries, particularly those looking at major initial public offerings and wondering how to invest and preserve their wealth.

Article continues below this ad

“People are seeking advice,” Bryant said. “With our value proposition, with this ever growing gap between wealth creation and financial education and advice … we like what we can offer.”

Though bank expansion plans are often focused on the wealthy clients, branches remain part of Citi’s strategy and a source of entry-level jobs amid a tough hiring market.

“We still have entry level employment as part of our strategy,” Bryant said. “We are still an employer for people getting their first job out of college.”

Numerous other banks have also opened downtown San Francisco branches in recent years, including Flagstar, Western Alliance Bank and EverBank after its Sterling Bank acquisition.

Some of the growth is attributed to cheaper rent. Ali McEvoy, a retailer broker at Maven Commercial, said in April that banks and other tenants have been drawn to downtown spaces that are renting for around $45 to $65 per square foot annually, far less than rates for such spaces around $100 per square foot before the pandemic.

Article continues below this ad

“The Financial District’s come really roaring back this year,” she said. “We’re seeing tremendous momentum downtown.”

Egan said continued expansion by the banking sector rests on two major uncertainties: Will there be a recession? And is AI a bubble?

“Look at the deal flow in the last three years. It’s as healthy as tech is profitable,” Egan said.

Finance leaders like JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon have dismissed concerns around a tech bubble. On the other hand, the bank’s own analysts and others have pegged the chance of a recession around 40%.

But the bank and its competitors are continuing with growth plans, even though hiring levels mean San Francisco is unlikely to ever return to its perch as a dominant banking center.