PNC to offer consumer loans through mobile devices

PNC Financial Services Group plans to introduce a consumer lending product that it will market through both its mobile wallet and in new branches.

The $375 billion-asset Pittsburgh company intends for the new loan product to be available on a national scale, Chairman and CEO William Demchak said this week. PNC has not previously attempted to operate a national consumer lending platform, he said.

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A PNC Bank branch stands in this photo taken with a tilt-shift lens in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. PNC Financial Services Group Inc., the second-biggest U.S. regional bank, posted third-quarter profit last month that beat analysts' estimates as asset-management revenue increased. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

“We're going there to be there with our full-service capabilities, patiently banking the clients that we ultimately want to bank,” Demchak said at an investor conference hosted by Goldman Sachs this week.

PNC plans to open branches in select new markets, including Minneapolis, Dallas and Kansas City, as part of the rollout of the national digital retail loan product. The new branches will be located in areas “in the markets where we have no presence in retail today,” but where PNC has expanded its commercial-and-industrial lending, Demchak said.

“We're working right now to figure out how to activate that through marketing,” Demchak said. “It's different than traditional marketing but we think it, through time, is a much more attractive way to gather clients, grow deposits, and augment what we're doing on a national basis in C&I with our retail footprint.”

PNC has retail operations in 19 states and the District of Columbia. A company spokeswoman declined to make executives available to provide additional details on the national lending strategy. Demchak said that the product rollout would take place in 2018, but he did not offer a more specific timetable.

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Consumer lending Consumer banking Branch network Branch banking Mobile wallets PNC Financial Services Group PNC Pennsylvania
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