PNC boasts it will open 100 branches in America over the next four years - yet stays quiet about shutting 239 last year, more than any other US bank

• PNC said it will open 100 branches and renovate 1,200 through 2028
• In the past four years, data from its regulator indicates it shut more than 700
• Banks filed to close 1,556 branches across the US last year and opened 472

PNC Bank said on Wednesday that within the next four years it will open 100 branches in the US – equivalent to about 4 percent of its current footprint.

It announced it would invest around $1billion on new brick-and-mortar locations in cities like Austin, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, and San Antonio, as well as on the renovation of some 1,200 existing branches.

But its stated plans to open 100 branches by 2028 are dwarfed by the number it has closed.

While it now has about 2,300 branches, data from its regulator indicates that in the last four years, since January 2020, it has filed to shut more than 700. Over that same span it filed to open 96.

After PNC released a press release on the openings today, DailyMail.com asked about recent closures – and any planned ones. There was no reply.

PNC Bank said on Wednesday that within the next four years it will open 100 branches in the US, and renovate 1,200 existing locations

The bank said it would open new branches in cities like Austin, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, and San Antonio

Last year, a report by S&P found PNC was closing branches at a rate faster than any other American bank, having shut 10 percent of its network in a year.

It opened 19 new branches in the first 10 months of 2023. That is just 8 percent of the 239 branches it closed over the same period.

At PNC’s annual shareholder meeting in April, its chief executive officer Bill Demchak was quoted by American Banker as saying that it expected to continue closing branches.

‘[Branch traffic] has declined steadily over the last 10 years, and we expect that will continue,’ he said.

‘We’ll adjust our physical footprint and increase our digital footprint, if that’s what clients demand,’ he added.

PNC’s head of retail banking, Alex Overstrom (pictured), described its branches as the ‘heartbeat’ of the retail business

But this week, in a release announcing the plans, PNC’s head of retail banking, Alex Overstrom, said it would continue to invest in its network of branches because they are the ‘heartbeat’ of the retail business.

‘Whether to finance a home, deposit a check, or save for retirement, our customers count on our 15,000 branch team members to support their holistic financial needs,’ he said.

It comes after Chase last week said it would open 500 branches in the next three years – more than 10 percent of the bank’s current footprint.

Unlike PNC, Chase has bucked the trend set by other national banks of rapidly closing branches.

A DailyMail.com analysis of data published by bank regulator the OCC showed that last year Chase was the only major bank to open more branches than it closed.

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