JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s consumer banking unit said on Wednesday it was planning to open up to 90 new branches in nine top U.S. markets in the face of an intensifying competition among three of the biggest U.S. banks for loans and deposits.

JPMorgan, Bank of America Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co. are nip and tuck in deposits. Bank of America, in early 2018, had decided to open more than 500 new branches across the United States by 2021.

Chase said it will also hire up to 700 employees in the new markets, including Charlotte, North Carolina; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from this summer, the bank said in a statement.

JPMorgan had said last year that it was planning to open 400 new branches, of which 30 percent would cater to low-to-moderate income communities, and hire as many as 3,000 employees in new markets over the next five years.

The bank also plans to open branches in new locations close to large universities to serve the student community. In its latest quarterly results, the bank reported a 2 percent rise in total deposits.