Jamie Dimon leads as JPMorgan Chase, the largest US lender grows its footprints in Africa.

The largest U.S. lender, JPMorgan Chase, told reporters that it intends to expand its presence in Africa by entering Kenya and Ivory Coast this year.

JPMorgan, which operates in more than 100 countries and has assets of over $4.2 trillion, is expanding into international markets.

This contrasts with Citigroup, the largest global presence among U.S. banking titans, operating in about 180 countries.

“We want to add a country or two (enter or deepen presence) in Africa, every couple of years or so,” Dimon stated over the phone Friday from New York before he departs for the continent. There has been no prior reporting of the countries or the rate of expansion.

Dimon will visit South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya while on the tour.

“This will allow us to be on the ground in these countries which gives you a lot more local knowledge and relationships,” Dimon stated.

“And when you do it, you basically will cover the government, maybe some big government enterprises and the multinationals that are in there with traditional banking services,” he stated.

According to Dimon, the bank will concentrate on treasury services, commercial and investment banking, and perhaps some lending in Kenya and Ivory Coast. AWM services, which are presently offered in South Africa and Nigeria, are not currently planned to be offered in those two nations.

“We are not doing AWM now but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t happen in the next few years,” Dimon stated.

According to media sources, regulators blocked JPMorgan’s previous plans to join Ghana and Kenya in the past few years.

The Central Bank of Kenya said on Monday that it had given JPMorgan permission to open a representative office there.

According to Dimon, “the U.S. government was not very keen on banks expanding into different geographies, as this was just after the financial crisis,” but that is no longer the case.