PNC is latest bank to say costs will rise alongside revenue

• Key insight: Executives at both banks see major opportunities ahead, but expect to bear higher expenses in order to harness them.
• Supporting data: PNC raised its guidance for non-interest expense from up roughly 7% to up approximately 8.5%.
• Expert quote: "Some expenses, if you account for them as investments, they have very good returns, but they're expense in the short run." — Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase

You have to spend money to make money.

That was one of the messages from executives at PNC Financial Services Group on Wednesday, echoing remarks that JPMorganChase executives made a day earlier.

PNC dialed up its 2026 full-year outlook for net interest income, noninterest income and total revenue. But it also increased its forecast for adjusted non-interest expense, from up roughly 7% to up approximately 8.5%.

Similarly, on Tuesday JPMorgan raised its full-year guidance for net interest income, but also ratcheted up its prediction for adjusted expenses to $107.5 billion — a $2.5 billion jump from the previous forecast. The nation's largest bank said this was "primarily due to higher volume- and revenue-related expenses driven by the activity levels and associated revenue outperformance."

During their earnings calls, the two banks used roughly the same argument to explain these rising costs: Expenses will have to increase in order to power revenue growth.

"In the end, we're investing," JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said. "We're always going to invest. It's been working, and, obviously, the returns so far speak for themselves."This week, JPMorgan and PNC both posted second quarter results that surpassed Wall Street's expectations. Earnings per share for JPMorgan were $7.70, far outpacing analysts' consensus estimate of $5.85, according to S&P. For PNC, EPS was $4.81, above analysts' forecasts of $4.45.

PNC also boasted notable growth in profits and revenues. In the second quarter, net income for the Pittsburgh-based lender was $2.1 billion, marking a 25% leap from one year ago. Total revenue for the $616 billion-asset bank was $6.9 billion, up 21% year over year.

But for both companies, these earnings did not come without cost. In the second quarter, JPMorgan's non-interest expense was $27.3 billion, up 15% from the same period last year. PNC's non-interest expense was $4.1 billion, up 21% year-over-year. (This included the costs of integrating FirstBank, which PNC acquired in January.)

Like JPMorgan, PNC attributed the uptick in costs to the higher earnings it enjoyed last quarter.

"The growth reflected increased business activity, higher marketing spend, as well as continued investments," PNC CFO Rob Reilly said during Wednesday's call.

Not every big bank drew a link between rising costs and rising revenue. But that's partly because not every bank offered guidance on their expenses — Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, for example, both stayed mum on their expected costs.

JPMorgan and PNC took a different approach. In their earnings calls, executives at both banks emphasized that the current economic environment, in their view, is highly positive for banking, with consumer credit remaining strong and the AI boom driving a surge of business investment. Both banks said they see many opportunities ahead — but seizing them will not be free.

"When we have an opportunity to spend more money in marketing with a positive [return on investment], we're going to do it," JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said on Tuesday. "Some expenses, if you account for them as investments, they have very good returns, but they're expense in the short run."