PNC Bank announced Friday it will add 35 branches in North Carolina over the next five years, with 10 going to the Raleigh area and 25 in the Charlotte market. The move is part of an overall $1.5 billion investment by PNC to add 200 branches in 12 cities across the country.
The pandemic saw a huge shift toward digital banking, but branches still have their role, says PNC Bank Regional President Jim Hansen, a North Carolina native based in Raleigh.
“In these high-growth markets, branches have been and will be very intregal to the relationship you have with your clients,” says Hansen “Clients want to see and feel their bank and go to our branches.”
Hansen points out that NC State University students visit the branch located at the Raleigh campus even though most tasks can be performed digitally. People facing big financial decisions often want that personal touch.
“Some folks may want to do that on a phone or a (computer) screen, others want to be in a branch, they want to know you’ve made an investment in the market,” says Hansen.
Pittsburgh-based PNC entered North Carolina about a dozen years ago with its acquisition of RBC Bank, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada. It currently has about 100 branches in North Carolina, with 25 in the Triangle and 10 in the Charlotte region.
In February, PNC announced a $1 billion investment that would see it expand by 100 new locations in the cities of Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio in Texas, along with Denver and Miami, along with 1,200 branch renovations. The additional $500 million investment doubles the number of new branches and brings to 1,400 the number of branch renovations. PNC also will add branches in Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa and Phoenix.
North Carolina’s population has grown by more than 1.3 million residents since PNC Bank first started doing business in the state. PNC Bank has benefited from that growth and wants to continue investing in the state, says Hansen.
“This deepens PNC’s presence in staying with and ahead of growth and growing faster than even the growth that is occurring in those places,” says Hansen. “It’s how we continue to grow our company.”
U.S. banks added more net new branches in 2023 for the first time in a decade. Last year banks added 94 net new branches across the US, which marked the the first annual period since 2012 they opened more than they closed, according to a report in Yahoo Finance. Bank of America announced in September it plans to open 165 new branches across the country by the end of 2026, including eight in North Carolina.
It will take PNC about one or two years to site the new locations, but Hansen says the branch additions will take place over a parallel timeframe in both parts of the state.
PNC Bank has the fourth largest branch network in the United States with more than 2,200 branches across the country. It’s the nation’s sixth largest bank, with $565 billion in assets, as of Sept. 30.