Does It Matter That 30% of Deposits at PNC Are ‘Non-Branch,’ Meaning ATM and Mobile?
PNC announced that 30% of its deposits come through the ATM and mobile channels in its earning call today.
The Pittsburgh-based bank does not distinguish between ATM and mobile in public announcements, so it is hard to tell what this means for the bank’s digital channels. This rate is “almost twice” what the bank saw a year ago, CEO William Demchak said today.
Given that Bank of America announced 9% of its deposits came via mobile remote deposit capture yesterday, PNC likely falls somewhat below that figure.
More to the point, it’s time for banks like PNC to make sharper distinctions than “branch” and “non-branch.” Lumping ATM and mobile together is simply a way to reveal mobile figures without actually revealing anything. If the mobile deposit figure was higher than BofA’s 9%, PNC would be shouting it from the rooftops.
David Albertazzi, senior analyst for Aite Group. pointed out that Bank of America, with 130,000 checks deposited via RDC a day, can be expected to report the amount, but that it shouldn’t be surprising if others don’t do the same. Albertazzi also pointed out that it was also not clear whether PNC was including commercial deposits, where remote deposit capture via scanners has been common for some time. Inclusion of commercial deposits would tip the scales toward “non-branch” deposits.
Demchak was asked if PNC would close more branches in 2014. His reply:
It’s — you’re going to see — it’ll be a push. We’re going to open some and consolidate some. But what you’ll see through time is the reconfiguration of branches with universal employees with square footage per branch on average going down with the continued rollout of image-enabled ATMs into old branch structures. So … that raw number of touch points feels about right. But you’re going to still see us reconfigure those touch points.
The bank reported 2,714 branches in 4Q 2013, down from 2,881 a year ago. No wonder “non-branch” transactions are on the rise.
