PNC Financial is riding high in the dangerously volatile US consumer banking market. Thanks to a historically conservative business model, it has suffered less than other banks; indeed, it has exploited the industry chaos and US government funds to leapfrog unbalanced rivals and significantly expand it franchise.
At the start of 2006, Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial was the 20th largest US financial services group; at the start of 2009, it will be the fifth by deposits, largely due to its snatch acquisition of National City last month for $5.2 billion (see RBI 601).
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By PNCs own estimates, the acquisition is expected to be accretive to group earnings only by the second year but this depends on the depressed US economy improving not imploding.
Core funding is key
Still, James Rohr, chairman and CEO of PNC Financial, remains wholly positive on his groups prospects.
He said: At a time when core funding is key, we see our [$180 billion] deposit strength as an important success factor. We will implement our successful business model and execute our strategies for managing risk, achieving cost efficiencies and growing high-quality revenue streams.
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By GlobalDataWhile its retail banking arm, PNC Bank, will now boast the fourth-largest branch network in the country after Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase, it is online and via mobiles that the bank is starting to make a name for itself.
It recently added an online game to its savvy website called Wallet World: The Virtual Adventures of Kash & Flo, in which players guide animated characters to climb, jump and run to gather as much cash as they can, put money away, and win daily or grand prizes totalling $25,000.
Other prizes include iTunes gift cards, scooters, flat-screen TVs and a Virtual Wallet account worth $5,000.
The online game is part of the biggest interactive marketing campaign in the companys history, which also includes social media websites, web videos, online banner ads and mobile marketing.
PNC Bank kicked things off back in August with Virtual Wallet (see RBI 597), a do-it-all, free personal financial money management solution for the wired set available both online and via mobiles. The platform includes a calendar with 360 degree views of the account by day, week or month. It lets individuals create bill reminders, check balances, see past activities and future payments, and mark paydays, as well as dozens of other tasks.
Danger days
An automatic Danger Days indicator warns customers of any potential overdraw of the account to help avoid fees and to eliminate worry.
Meanwhile, the Virtual Wallets Money Bar is a convenient slider tool on the site allowing the customer to move money in real time between three accounts, named Spend, (for everyday banking) Reserve (for short-term savings and overdraft protection) and Growth (a high-yield growth account).
Slide the tool from Spend to Reserve and specify $250, and just like that, the money is transferred. It can be moved back just as easily.
A spokesperson for the bank told RBI that since its launch five months ago, the bank had opened more than 12,000 new Virtual Wallet accounts and is averaging more than 200 new customers every day. One of the most popular features has been a customisable desktop widget called Punch the Pig which allows the banks customers to click and transfer cash into a high-yield savings account.
The user even can choose the pigs skin colour and oink noise. PNC built much of the application in-house, but worked with partners including Adobe, Yodlee and Andera. ClairMail and mFoundry enabled much of the functionality on users mobile phones.
On 19 November, PNC pushed even further into the mobile banking realm: it announced that it had expanded its m-banking services with leading vendor ClairMail, thus enabling all of its customers to access their accounts using virtually any mobile communications device, regardless of manufacturer, model, operating system or wireless carrier.
A mobile banking solution should be available to all bank customers, said Thomas Kunz, director of e-Business at PNC.
Charles Davis
