PNC sees growth opportunity in capital-led market disruptions

By Nupur Anand

NEW YORK (Reuters) – PNC Financial (NYSE:) Services CEO William Demchak on Tuesday said that the market disruptions caused by the Basel III endgame proposal is an opportunity for the bank to grow.

“The Basel III endgame and some of the disruption on interest rates affords us near-term opportunities as other people are changing their balance sheets,” Demchak told investors at the Goldman Sachs U.S. Financial Services Conference.

“So there is the ability to acquire assets or assume risk or just acquire clients as other people shrink,” he said.

The chiefs of other banking giants have strongly criticized proposed rules that would require U.S. lenders to set aside more capital, saying they could crimp lending and curtail growth.

Bank bosses are also expected to protest against these draft rules at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. Regulators have said that the so-called “Basel endgame” plans, which overhaul how banks must calculate their loss-absorbing capital, would not impede lending or hurt small businesses.

Separately, Pittsburgh-based PNC also expects expenses to remain stable in 2024.

The bank has also started “dipping its toes” in resuming share buy backs, Demchak said. Many U.S. lenders had slowed their share repurchases in response to an uncertain economic outlook.

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