The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (PNC) — BATS 14/100 — 2026-07-15
BotFlo AI Transformation Score
What is the BotFlo AI Transformation Score (BATS)?
Use the interactive report viewer to verify report details.
Full list of Earning Calls Summaries
Stock Analysis
– All links to the Stock Analysis website are affiliate links
– You can download the transcript for earnings calls for nearly all the companies on their site (requires a paid subscription)
– The BAT score is generated based on transcripts obtained using a different API
Listen to the earnings call audio for free on StockAnalysis
Summary based on The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. earnings call on 2026-07-15
BotFlo AI Transformation Score for $PNC: 14 (14/100)
Management says AI is impacting lending only at the margin and cannot explain broad-based C&I growth alone.
When asked about the AI super cycle, leadership emphasizes core franchise growth over mega AI-related capital markets activity.
Management contrasts less-cyclical core banking execution with volatile AI-related boom activity rather than expressing transformative AI urgency.
Leadership frames PNC’s path as less cyclical franchise execution versus boom-cycle mega deals.
AI is acknowledged only as a marginal macro influence on lending demand.
Sector AI Transformation Score for $PNC: 2 (2/50)
Presentation
(1/5) Q2 2026 earnings highlights and franchise momentum
• 📈 PNC delivered $2.1 billion of net income, or $4.81 per diluted share, and $4.85 adjusted after $0.04 of FirstBank integration and other significant items.
• 💼 Business momentum stayed strong with healthy DDA growth, meaningful corporate and private banking client acquisition, and commercial loan-driven NII growth plus favorable deposit mix and pricing.
• 💰 Fee income rose 10% linked-quarter and 20% year-over-year across every fee category, while positive operating leverage, a better efficiency ratio, and strong credit supported an 18% dividend increase to $2 per share.
(2/5) Strategic conversion, branch, and technology progress
• 🏦 PNC completed the FirstBank conversion, opened branches in high-growth markets, and introduced a new mobile banking platform while advancing client and infrastructure technologies.
• 🎯 Management said these efforts are not about the next quarter but about making PNC a better bank and positioning for sustained long-term growth.
• ✅ Bill concluded the company had a great quarter and is well positioned to drive further growth, thanking employees before handing off to the CFO.
(3/5) Balance sheet, capital, loans, and deposits
• 📊 Average loans grew 4% to $363 billion, securities rose 2% to $147 billion, deposits were stable at $457 billion, and tangible book value reached $111 with 17.9% ROTCE.
• 💵 PNC returned $1.3 billion of capital, including $610 million of buybacks expected to continue at a similar third-quarter pace, raised the dividend 18%, and held estimated CET1 at 9.9%.
• 🏦 Virtually all loan growth was in C&I with higher utilization, CRE rose $690 million, consumer loans declined net, deposits mixed higher consumer against seasonal commercial declines, and noninterest-bearing deposits grew 4% to 23% of total.
(4/5) Income statement, significant items, and revenue drivers
• ⚠️ Significant items included $127 million FirstBank integration costs, a $448 million Visa gain, an $85 million Visa derivative hit, a $139 million securities-sale loss with 120 bp higher reinvestment yields, and a $140 million Foundation contribution, netting to a $0.04 EPS reduction.
• 📈 Total revenue was $6.9 billion, up 12%, expenses $4.1 billion, up 9%, yielding 3% positive operating leverage, 16% PPNR growth, and 25% year-over-year EPS growth.
• 💼 NII rose 4% to $4.1 billion with NIM at 2.96%, while fees rose 10% to $2.3 billion on record M&A advisory, stronger capital markets, card and cash management, and other categories.
(5/5) Expenses, credit quality, and outlook
• 🧾 Excluding integration and significant items, expenses rose 5% on business activity, marketing, and investments, while PNC remains on track for $350 million of 2026 continuous-improvement saves to fund technology and business investment.
• 🛡️ Credit improved as NPLs fell 10% to 0.55% of loans, delinquencies declined to 0.39%, NCOs were 25 basis points, and ACL stood at 1.48% of loans.
• 📅 Full-year 2026 guide calls for about 12.5% loan growth, NII up 15% to 15.5%, noninterest income up about 9%, total revenue up about 13%, and expenses up about 8.5%, with 3Q loans up 1% to 2% and NII up 3% to 3.5%.
Q&A
(1/13) Q&A: Cadence of loan and deposit growth and funding plans
• 📈 Rob said first-half and 2Q loan growth were strong, but second-half growth should continue at roughly GDP-like rates rather than the same pace.
• 💵 Deposits are expected to grow in the second half and replace some wholesale funding added in the second quarter.
• 🏦 NIB deposits beat expectations on commercial treasury management and escrow flows, retail deposits grew, and FHLB advances were described as flexible lowest-cost funding rather than a structural signal.
(2/13) Q&A: Loan demand mix, pipelines, spreads, and NIM path
• 📊 Loan growth is expected to continue at a slower rate, with little competitive spread compression but mix-driven dilution from high-quality, lower-spread C&I borrowers that often bring treasury management and capital markets fees.
• 🚀 Bill added that new markets are outpacing legacy markets and C&I growth plus utilization increases were broad-based across categories.
• 📈 PNC still expects NIM above 3% by year-end; 2Q NIM was helped by lower deposit rates and higher NIB but constrained by lower-spread loan mix, and management prefers higher EPS over higher NIM.
(3/13) Q&A: Whether high-quality C&I growth and AI CapEx explain demand
• 🧾 Rob said the mix is not radically different from history, though a higher-than-average share of growth is in higher-quality, lower-spread loans.
• 🤖 Bill said growth is too broad-based across sectors and geographies to lay it all on AI, though AI is impacting activity at the margin.
• 🏭 He pointed instead to a strong economy, robust M&A, and clients choosing to operate and spend through environmental chaos.
(4/13) Q&A: Street NIM exit rate, NII durability, and ROTCE path
• 📉 Rob reiterated PNC does not manage to NIM and only guides above 3%, while Bill stressed NII and EPS matter more than the NIM ratio if loan growth is healthy and funding is flexible.
• 💰 Fixed-rate asset repricing into 2027 and beyond is constructive for NII, though formal 2027 guidance was not provided.
• 🎯 PNC remains on track for an 18% annualized ROTCE exit rate in 4Q26 and printed 17.9% this quarter.
(5/13) Q&A: Line utilization upside and AI super-cycle participation
• 📊 Utilization rose on a broad basis in 2Q, and 2H planning assumes utilization at least holds and maybe rises a bit within a GDP-like loan-growth framework.
• ⚡ Asked about missing the AI CapEx super cycle and mega financings, Bill pointed to 25% year-on-year EPS growth, double-digit revenue-line growth, and capital markets revenue up 80% year-on-year.
• 🛡️ He argued PNC is growing a less cyclical core franchise and dropping real dollars to the bottom line rather than chasing volatile mega-deal economics.
(6/13) Q&A: Deposit-cost trajectory and competitive funding dynamics
• 💵 Rate paid declined in the quarter, but guidance assumes it drifts back toward first-quarter levels on back-book repricing and planned deposit actions.
• 🏦 Bill separated competitive wealth and corporate yields from retail, arguing banks with strong retail franchises face less severe pressure than commercial-only funders posting high CD rates.
• ✅ Retail DDA household growth, higher balances, and a 1 bp retail rate decline support PNC’s balanced position as retail share consolidates to larger players.
(7/13) Q&A: Capital markets mix and integration with the core bank
• 📈 Capital markets strength was broad-based, with Harris Williams about 40% of the business having a record quarter and loan syndication, Solebury trading, derivatives, FX, and investment-grade underwriting all contributing.
• 🔗 Bill said loan growth, derivatives, syndications, and bonds are correlated, including in middle-market financings.
• 🇺🇸 Management tied the opportunity set to the size of financings occurring across the U.S. economy.
(8/13) Q&A: CRE inflection and FirstBank integration lessons
• 🏗️ PNC has worked through office CRE, released some reserves, inflected to growth, and sees constructive pipelines in multifamily, industrial, and retail, expecting CRE to be a bigger loan-growth contributor.
• 🏭 Data-center and project construction exposure exists tangentially inside real estate but not in big size or big risk.
• 📱 FirstBank conversion proved PNC could integrate without freezing tech deployment, showcased the data factory and early-access credentialing, while underestimating branch traffic from lower digital awareness; financially the deal is meeting or exceeding accretion expectations.
(9/13) Q&A: Fee guide and capital markets sustainability
• 📉 Rob said some capital markets activity pulled into 2Q, so 3Q capital markets fees are expected down about 20%, driving the overall fee guide down 5% to 5.5% while other fee categories are flattish to up.
• 📊 For the full year, asset management is up high single digits, capital markets up close to 25% to 30%, card and cash management mid to high single digits, lending and deposit services mid-single digits, and mortgage flattish to down.
• 🎯 Bill said PNC is in the right places and winning business, so results remain a function of broader market activity after a record quarter.
(10/13) Q&A: Rate sensitivity and CET1 operating target
• ⚖️ NII sensitivity to a hike or two is very small in 2026 because PNC is roughly neutral to 25 bp rate moves up or down.
• 📈 Further out, curve reaction matters, but continual fixed-asset repricing still supports a healthy pickup next year within contemplated rate ranges.
• 💵 CET1 at 9.9% is effectively at the around-10% operating target, with 3Q buybacks expected similar to 2Q.
(11/13) Q&A: Conservatism in loan guide and residual credit watchpoints
• 🎯 Management refused to bias the guide, saying the guide is the guide, while Bill noted PNC should take more than its fair share if economy-wide loan growth appears because of newer markets and share gains.
• 🛡️ Overall consumer and commercial credit quality remains very good with no big deteriorating pockets forming.
• ⚠️ Monitored pressure areas include health care, distilleries, and fuel-cost expectations, but nothing particularly worrisome beyond ordinary watch items.
(12/13) Q&A: Credit spreads over the past three months
• 📊 Rob said PNC is not seeing much competitive pressure on credit spreads.
• 📉 Some portfolio spread change reflects mix shift into higher-quality, lower-spread loans.
• ✅ On an apples-to-apples basis, spreads are pretty similar quarter-over-quarter.
(13/13) Q&A: Potential debit card network interest
• 💳 Erika asked about reports that banks including PNC may be interested in a debit card network and how such a network could benefit PNC.
• 🚫 Bill declined to comment on any particular situation.
• ⚠️ He said hypothetically the work to convert a PIN network to signature would be pretty material.
