PNC Bank, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is continuing its efforts to expand in the region.

These efforts include a recent partnership launch with a local asset manager, hiring in the region to strengthen the bank’s connection to the L.A. market, and taking advantage of opportunities created by the fall of some regional banks.

Todd Wilson, PNC’s regional president of the greater Los Angeles market, said that over the last 18 months after the establishment of PNC’s Century City office, he has been focused on building out a strong team, investing in the community and connecting with local businesses. 

President of PNC Financial Services Mike Lyons said he is pleased with what PNC has accomplished in the area, adding that California is already one of PNC’s top five sale markets out of 55, some of which the bank has been in since 1865.

“We’re thrilled to be in California and thrilled obviously to be in Los Angeles. It’s by far the biggest market that we operate in today with a fully dedicated regional president model. We have had tremendous early success here, but we have to stay after the game,” Lyons said.

PNC’s push toward SoCal expansion is no surprise to Kamal Bajoria, managing director of investment banking at Wedbush Securities.

With PNC’s current ranking as the sixth largest bank in the country by assets, Bajoria said growing the bank’s market share in California will help bridge the gap between its competitors. 

In terms of access to ultra-high and high-net worth individuals, diverse businesses, the venture capital and tech landscape, and more, Southern California is an attractive market, he said.

“PNC and like-sized regional banks want a piece of that pie, and that’s why you see them really more aggressively expanding into this region,” Bajoria said.

Currently, PNC is focused on breaking into the business banking side of things here, through real estate as well as both institutional and personal wealth management. Specific Los Angeles sectors Wilson is interested in include aerospace and defense, media and consumer products.

Eventually, the bank would like to deliver its entire platform – wealth management, retail banking and corporate banking – in the region.

For now, the trajectory is to grow organically, though Lyons said PNC could be open to a California acquisition in the future if the circumstances lined up.

West Coast opportunity

PNC is not the only bank focusing on strengthening its Southern California presence in the last few years. With the fall of regional banks such as Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank, national banks are looking to fill those gaps, including PNC, Chicago-based BMO Bank and Enterprise Bank & Trust which is headquartered in Missouri.

In 2020, BMO opened its first L.A. office and not long after, it completed an acquisition of Bank of the West, further solidifying its position here. Meanwhile, Enterprise acquired Cerritos-based First Choice Bancorp in 2021 and has since continued to build out its Southern California by hiring local bankers to join its team.

Lyons noted that following the collapse of SVB, PNC has been “generating record amounts of corporate customer growth,” as well as increases in retail customers and new wealth customers.

“What happened was unfortunate for the industry through that period and as the Fed increased interest rates. But from PNC’s perspective, I think it reinforced what our value proposition has been since 1865 (which) … has resonated with clients, starting with not only great people, but high-quality funding and a time tested balance sheet that’s performed well through various economic cycles, and that’s what we deliver to our clients,” Lyons said.

In addition to the opportunity these bank failures created on the customer side of things, they also created a large hiring pool.

Bajoria pointed out that banks like PNC have had the chance to hire bankers from the number of California regional banks and community banks that closed in recent years and that these bankers have strong experience in the SoCal market. 

Hiring locally will help PNC mesh with the Los Angeles business banking landscape, Bajoria said, noting that “business banking is relationship based.”

“Hiring the right teams from some of those banks that have failed, or even laterals from a JP Morgan or from other like-sized banks would really be the right way to penetrate in this market,” Bajoria said.

As a part of Wilson’s team scouting, he said hiring both “top tier talent” locally as well as bringing in tenured PNC leaders was a priority.

Partnering with TCW

Another recent local push for PNC is its partnership with TCW Group, a downtown-based global asset management firm.

Due to regulatory restraints on banks, PNC is limited in its ability to service private credit deals. Wilson said the partnership allows the bank to leverage TCW’s freedom as an asset manager, while PNC provides a national customer base.

TCW’s long standing connection to the Los Angeles markets is another plus. While Wilson said the companies will definitely source deals in L.A., the platform will also be national.

For a large bank to be partnering with an established investment firm is not a unique move, but it is a smart one, Bajoria said, calling it “a win-win on both sides.”

“TCW has the expertise to underwrite these deals and PNC has thousands of customer relationships who are in need of private credit services. So, when you combine the two, instead of (PNC) losing clients to competitors or to other private credit firms, they can actually retain those clients and earn a fee or a split on all those deals,” Bajoria said.

PNC expects deal activity to kick off in early 2025.

Investing in the community 

Wilson said that with PNC’s L.A. office around during the last mayoral election, the team really paid attention to the issues that mattered to the community, identifying early childhood education, affordable housing and general economic development as top priorities. 

To get involved, PNC has partnered organizations including the Girl Scouts and the Urban League to promote diverse business ownership.

“L.A. really is a city of diverse business owners, meaning a lot of first-generation citizens, a lot of women and people of color. And so, we really leaned into empowering female financial decision makers,” Wilson said.

One example includes PNC’s work with Angel City Football Club, where the bank helped the organization launch its Player 22 Future Program, which provides funding for current or former soccer players looking to start or expand their businesses.

PNC also works with United Way to help finance the development of local affordable housing projects in Los Angeles.

Wilson admires United Way’s work in “filling a gap in traditional lending and bringing critical housing initiatives to life,” he said.

“This is a strong example of how public-private partnerships can streamline access to capital and empower community-focused builders,” Wilson added.

Wilson emphasized that PNC’s plans for Los Angeles and California as a whole are not short term but span decades.

“We want to build who we are in L.A. the right way, and we’re going to make sure we find the right partners, and we find the right people internally to help grow this organization. And part of that is just making sure we are investing in the community,” Wilson said.