The story
PNC Financial Services traces its history to the Pittsburgh Trust and Savings Company which was founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 10, 1845.
Due to the long recovery from the Great Fire of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Trust and Savings was not fully operational until January 28, 1852. It originally opened offices at Liberty Avenue and 12th Street. The bank was renamed The Pittsburgh Trust Company in 1853. In 1858, the company relocated its corporate offices to the corner of Fifth Avenue and Wood Street in Pittsburgh, where they remain to this day. The bank changed its name to First National Bank of Pittsburgh in 1863 after it became the first bank in the country to apply for a national charter as part of that year's National Banking Act. It received the 48th charter on August 5, 1863, with other later banks receiving charters sooner due to paperwork problems and the fact that the bank was already in business.
In 1946, First National merged with Peoples-Pittsburgh Trust Company – with whom it had worked closely since the 1930s – to form Peoples First National Bank & Trust. In 1959, Peoples First merged with Fidelity Trust Company to form Pittsburgh National Bank. At this time, the bank adopted the first version of its present logo – a stylized triangle representing the city's Golden Triangle.
Another branch of the current bank, the Philadelphia-based Provident National Corporation, dates back to 1865.
In 1982, Pittsburgh National Corporation and Provident National Corporation, both with PNC as their abbreviations, merged into a new entity named PNC Financial Corporation. It was the largest bank merger in American history at the time and created a company with $10.3 billion in assets. Between 1991 and 1996, PNC purchased more than ten smaller banks and financial institutions, including the $30 billion dollar merger of Midlantic Bank of Edison New Jersey in 1996, that at the time, was one-third the size of PNC. That broadened its market base from Kentucky to the New York metropolitan area.
Since 1984, PNC has compiled the Christmas Price Index, a humorous economic indicator which estimates the prices of the items found in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas".
In 1998, PNC acquired Hilliard Lyons for $275 million in cash and stock. Hilliard Lyons was sold in 2008.
In 1998, PNC sold its credit card business to Metris (now HSBC Finance) and MBNA.
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In 2000, the company adopted a new brand image and changed its name to PNC Financial Services Group.
In 2001, PNC sold the original PNC Mortgage to Washington Mutual due to volatility in the market.
In 2004, PNC acquired United National Bancorp based in Bridgewater, New Jersey, for $321 million in cash and 6.6 million shares of its common stock.
In 2005, PNC acquired Riggs National Corporation of Washington, D. C. Riggs had been fined after aiding Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in money laundering. PNC became one of the largest banks in the Washington metropolitan area.
In 2005, PNC began outsourcing mortgages to Wells Fargo.
In August 2006, PNC got back into the credit card business by marketing and issuing credit cards under the MasterCard brand in partnership with U.S. Bancorp (U.S. Bank). After the National City merger (see below) in 2008, the U.S. Bancorp (U.S. Bank) products were converted to PNC Bank products.
On March 2, 2007, PNC acquired Maryland-based Mercantile Bankshares, making PNC the eighth largest bank in the United States by deposits.
On October 26, 2007, PNC acquired Yardville National Bancorp, a small commercial bank centered in central New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.
On September 15, 2007, PNC Bank acquired Citizens National Bank of Laurel, Maryland.
On April 4, 2008, PNC acquired Sterling Financial Corporation, a commercial and consumer bank with accounts and branches in central Pennsylvania, northeastern Maryland and Delaware.
On October 24, 2008, during the 2008 financial crisis, the National City acquisition by PNC for $5.2 billion in stock was completed. The acquisition was financed with preferred stock sold to the United States Treasury as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program implemented as part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. The stock issued to the U.S. Treasury was repurchased in 2010. PNC then became the 5th largest bank in the United States by deposit and fourth largest by branches.
On August 14, 2009, PNC took over Dwelling House Savings & Loan and its only branch location in Pittsburgh's Hill District after Dwelling House failed and was placed in receivership by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Dwelling House had been known in Pittsburgh to provide loans to low-income African Americans that other banks would deny. The branch was closed and accounts were transferred to the existing PNC branch in the Hill District.
In July 2010, PNC sold its Global Investment Servicing (GIS) subsidiary to The Bank of New York Mellon to repay funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which had been used for the National City acquisition (see above) in 2008. GIS, established in 1973 and with 4,700 employees, was the second-largest full-service mutual fund transfer agent in the U.S and the second-largest full-service accounting and administration provider to U.S. mutual funds. GIS serviced $1.9 trillion in total assets and 58 million shareholder accounts. It was known as PFPC until July 2008.
In January 2011, PNC acquired BankAtlantic's Tampa Bay Area branches.
In December 2011, PNC acquired 27 branches in the northern Atlanta suburbs with $240 million in deposits and $42 million in book value from Flagstar Bank.
In 2012, PNC acquired RBC Bank USA from Royal Bank of Canada for $3.45 billion. RBC Bank had 426 branches in southern Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. Prior to the acquisition, PNC had slipped (due to mergers and growth in other firms) from its ranking following the 2008 National acquisition; this 2012 acquisition made PNC the fifth largest bank by branches behind Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase, and U.S. Bank and the sixth largest by total assets behind the aforementioned four banks and Citibank.
On July 30, 2012, PNC announced plans to put ATMs in 138 Harris Teeter grocery stores in the Carolinas, plus 53 other stores.
In September 2014, PNC acquired Solebury Capital Group, a capital markets advisory firm, for $50 million.
On October 2, 2015, the bank opened Tower at PNC Plaza, its new headquarters on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Wood Street in downtown Pittsburgh. It was first announced in 2011. The LEED Platinum building, owned by PNC and designed by Gensler, won awards for its environmentally friendly features.
In April 2017, the company acquired the U.S. equipment finance business of ECN Capital for $1.3 billion.
In November 2017, the company acquired The Trout Group, an investor relations and strategic advisory firm servicing the healthcare industry.
In 2018, the company acquired Fortis Advisors, which provides post-merger shareholder services. The company ranked one hundred sixty fifth on the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue.
In 2018, PNC began opening "Solution Centers", a hybrid between traditional bank branches and ATM-only services, mostly serving new markets. Through this method, PNC expanded its retail footprint into Boston, Denver, Kansas City, Nashville, and several markets in Texas including Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Two of PNC's "Big Four" competitors, Bank of America and Chase Bank, have both also been expanding into new markets through this method, including into PNC's home market of Pittsburgh.
In August 2019, PNC launched a Fintech incubator subsidiary called "numo" that functions as an internal startup. Its first development included indi, an instant payment and mobile banking company for gig workers.
In May 2020, the company sold its stake in BlackRock.
On June 1, 2021, PNC acquired BBVA USA for $11.6 billion in cash. The acquisition significantly boosted its presence in Colorado and Texas, complemented its presence in Alabama and Florida, and introduced the bank to the Arizona, California, and New Mexico markets.
In 2021, PNC originated nearly 95,000 mortgages worth $34.8 billion. This is a 23% increase vs prior year and stands as their highest origination volume to date.
In July 2024, PNC partnered with Coinbase to offer cryptocurrency trading services to its customers through Coinbase's institutional platform.
In September 2025, PNC announced the acquisition of FirstBank, a Colorado-based lender with $26 billion in assets, for $4.1 billion. In December 2025, it was announced that PNC had received all required regulatory approvals to proceed with its acquisition of FirstBank Holding Company and its subsidiary, FirstBank. The merger closed on January 5, 2026.
From Wikipedia’s article on PNC Financial Services, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.8