PNC AI Strategy (2026): Use Cases, Leaders

An 'AI factory': own data centres, own GPUs, own small and large models — to stop paying for tokens.

How is PNC using AI?

PNC is the large bank that has said most plainly it does not want to rent its AI. In June 2026 CEO Bill Demchak told a Morgan Stanley conference the bank is 'building our own AI factory' — its own GPU compute and data centres, its own large and small language models — because, as he put it, 'any impact that AI can have on the productivity of a bank, that productivity can be taken away by the cost of tokens'. The bank confirmed the goal is to avoid vendor lock-in and reduce reliance on usage-based pricing while still mixing third-party and internal models by use case. The visible outputs so far are an agentic software-development system that built the new PNC mobile app, patented data-streaming architecture, healthcare claims AI, and a data chief who says AI without curated data is 'interesting math on a whiteboard'. Behind the factory sits a programme the bank calls the 'Big Five': about $1.5 billion of addressable spend across software, retail operations, AML compliance, the client care centre and commercial loan processing, with 171 to 200 named opportunities, a firm-wide Microsoft Copilot rollout, and a July 2026 mobile app that about 115 AI agents built and tested. It is a $600 billion bank with a stated ambition to reach $1 trillion, choosing infrastructure over subscriptions.

At a glance

Lead bank

PNC Bank, N.A.

Assets (lead bank, Jun 30, 2026)

$610 billion

Charter

National bank (OCC)

Headquarters

Pittsburgh, PA

Flagship platform

PNC AI factory

AI leadership

Bill Demchak · Ned Carroll · Deborah Guild · Alex Overstrom · Tim Ferriter · Tom Kunz · Mike Lyons · Mark Wiedman · Rob Reilly · Mark Williamson

June 2026: Demchak's 'AI factory' — own GPU compute, data centres and Nvidia chips; in-house large and small language models for fraud and call-centre tasks; 'the most efficient tool oftentimes isn't the $35 token, it's the $1.50 token'.
A spokesperson: the bank is positioning to 'avoid vendor lock-in' and reduce 'long-term reliance on external, usage-based pricing models', while continuing to use a mix of third-party and internal models.
July 2026: a rebuilt PNC Mobile app, built with the bank's agentic development system and patented data-streaming microservices architecture.
Head of data and automation Ned Carroll: 'AI, absent well-organized, well-curated data, is nothing more than interesting math on a whiteboard'; PNC is adopting the sector's 'nutrition label' idea for model data.
PNC Claim Predictor uses AI to catch inaccurate healthcare insurance claims before submission; treasury-management content positions AI as a fraud gatekeeper.
Scale ambition: the $4 billion-plus FirstBank acquisition (announced September 2025, converted June 2026) and a stated goal to double to $1 trillion of assets.
Earnings calls: in January 2026 PNC said AI was about 20% of the year-over-year increase in a record technology budget; in April Demchak said 'AI allows that to continue' of the bank's long record of flat headcount while it grew.
September 2026 (Barclays conference): CFO Rob Reilly said PNC would pass on an acquisition that impeded its AI priorities; President Mark Wiedman named retail operations, commercial loan servicing and fraud among five AI focus areas and said developer-assistance tools delivered some offerings about 40% more efficiently.
The 2025 10-K says a minority of PNC's models, but a growing number used with customers and for process automation, rely on AI/machine learning, and that those algorithms face intellectual-property, privacy, consumer-protection and equal-opportunity law.
The 'Big Five': in January 2026 PNC counted 171 AI and automation opportunities across $1.4 billion of addressable spend; by February CFO Rob Reilly put it at about $1.5 billion in five areas (software, retail operations, AML compliance, the client care centre, commercial loan processing), with a target of another 40 points of operating leverage from AI between 2025 and 2030.
Technology spend is about $3.5 billion a year, rising about 10% in 2026, with AI roughly 20% of that increase; Reilly says the vendor approach is 'everybody, and a lot in-house', with frontier models reached through hyperscalers and open-weight models hosted in PNC's own data centres.
The July 2026 mobile app was built by about 115 orchestrated AI agents that handled development and testing with human review; Reilly called it '100%' agentic coding, and PNC plans its own digital assistant later in 2026.
The 2026 proxy credits head of technology Deborah Guild with deploying generative-AI platforms including Microsoft Copilot and AI-enabled search for customer-facing teams, plus a new Eastern data centre and a Midwestern hosting site; director Bryan Salesky is the Stack AV CEO and former Argo AI founder.
Patents: a granted 'data migration factory' patent (the 'patented data factory' Demchak cites for the BBVA and FirstBank conversions) and published applications on machine-learning fraud detection, AI-assisted code generation and AI rules for document processing.
Leadership moves in 2026: Tim Ferriter from JPMorgan Chase (where he ran the Chase app and consumer AI strategy) as head of retail product, digital and growth; head of corporate and institutional banking Mike Lyons says every credit action is assessed for AI impact, with about $5.3 billion of recurring-revenue software exposure under quarterly review.

The platform

What is PNC AI factory?

Announced by CEO Bill Demchak in June 2026: PNC is acquiring data centres, buying Nvidia chips and building its own large and small language models for banking tasks such as fraud blocking and call centres, alongside an agentic development system that built its new mobile app.[17][18][22][12]

Patents and partners

What AI patents and partnerships does PNC have?

PNC's public AI record names one named vendor, Microsoft Copilot, deployed firm-wide; frontier models reached through unnamed hyperscalers; and open-weight models the bank hosts in its own data centres. Its intellectual property includes a granted 'data migration factory' patent that ran the BBVA and FirstBank conversions, and published applications on machine-learning fraud detection, AI-assisted code generation and AI rules for document processing. No GPU vendor, capex figure or AI data-centre location is public.[7][12][13][15][14][16]

Item	What it is	Status	Date
Microsoft Copilot	Generative-AI platform deployed across the organisation	In production	2026-03-11[7]
Hyperscaler frontier models	Frontier models used through cloud providers; open-weight models hosted in PNC data centres	In production	2026-09-14[12]
US 12,321,323 B1	Data migration factory (granted patent; continuation family)	Granted	2024-02-20[13][11]
US 2025/0104080 A1	Training and applying machine-learning systems in fraud detection	Published application	2025-03-27[15]
US 2025/0306861 A1	Dynamic application context enrichment for AI-assisted code generation	Published application	2024-10-11[14]
US 2025/0094839 A1	Applying rules via artificial intelligence for document processing	Published application	2024-12-04[16]
Visa Direct	Real-time payments partnership named in the 2026 proxy (payments, not AI)	In production	2026-03-11[7]

Timeline

What has PNC done on AI, and when?

Figure 1 · PNC's AI moves by year, from the timeline below. Filled boxes are the current year. Every entry cites its source in the list at the end of the page.

Sep 25, 2026
Head of ATM Banking hired with an AI mandate[37]
Mark Williamson joins as SVP and head of ATM banking, leading strategy for more than 8,000 ATMs and cash recyclers across 2,200-plus branches, and collaborating on the integration of AI across PNC's physical distribution network.
Sep 14, 2026
Barclays conference: agents at the centre of development, 5–10x[12]
Wiedman: using agents as the centre of software development, rather than as assistants, shows 5 to 10x productivity, work of ten weeks done in a week or less; Reilly: own data centres, own GPUs, proprietary small language models, open-weight models in-house, frontier models through hyperscalers.
Sep 14, 2026
AI priorities outrank M&A[35][34]
At a Barclays conference Reilly says PNC would pass on a deal that impeded its AI priorities; Wiedman lists five AI focus areas and a roughly 40% efficiency gain from developer tools.
Sep 14, 2026
President Wiedman on agent risk[36]
After a weekend of public alarm over autonomous AI agents, Wiedman says keeping agents from being 'a little bit too aggressive in what they're trying to get done' is a top priority.
Sep 8, 2026
Data 'nutrition labels' for AI models[19]
Carroll on the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council's data-labelling concept, which PNC is putting into action.
Jul 15, 2026
Q2 2026 call: the patented data factory ran the FirstBank integration[11]
Demchak: the data factory, patented in its first form for the BBVA deal, performed even better inside the FirstBank integration; the continuous-improvement programme is on track for $350 million of 2026 savings; AI is affecting hiring 'at the margin'.
Jul 8, 2026
About 115 AI agents built the new app; a PNC digital assistant is planned[1][2]
Banking Dive: the agents handled development and testing with human review of their output; about 8 million customers use the app, mobile active users up 8% year over year; the release says the platform is designed for embedded generative-AI assistance and that frontier models were used to harden the development process.
Jul 7, 2026
New mobile app built with agentic development[22][20]
PNC's agentic development system and patented data-streaming microservices architecture.
Jun 22, 2026
FirstBank conversion completed[23]
780,000 customers, 1,620 employees and 95 branches move to PNC systems.
Jun 11, 2026
Demchak dismisses AI-driven deposit flight[10]
At the Morgan Stanley conference: moving money quickly will be driven by open banking and API connectivity more than by AI; the average PNC checking balance is about $10,000.
Jun 9, 2026
'We are building our own AI factory'[17][18]
Demchak at the Morgan Stanley US Financials Conference: own GPUs, own models, less reliance on external tokens.
May 18, 2026
Tim Ferriter hired from JPMorgan Chase[9]
Head of retail product, digital and growth, reporting to Overstrom; at Chase he ran the mobile app, online banking and the consumer-facing AI strategy.
May 15, 2026
Candidate AI guidelines published[26]
Rules for how job applicants may use AI, from a bank that calls itself 'a forward-thinking technology company'.
Apr 27, 2026
Annual meeting: 'aggressively building defense as AI rolls out'[8]
Demchak frames AI as productivity and client-service upside and a new cyber risk, on an 'aggressive technology investment schedule'.
Apr 15, 2026
Q1 2026 call: 'AI allows that to continue'[33]
Demchak links AI to decades of automation with flat headcount while the bank grew.
Mar 11, 2026
Proxy: Microsoft Copilot firm-wide, AI-enabled search, two new data-centre sites[7]
The 2026 DEF 14A credits the enterprise AI strategy with multiple generative-AI platforms including Microsoft Copilot and AI-enabled search for customer-facing teams; a new Eastern data-centre facility is under construction and a Midwestern hosting site secured; pre-provision revenue rose to $9.3 billion 'supported by continued technology modernization, including AI-driven automation'.
Mar 10, 2026
RBC conference: AI disruption folded into credit reviews[6]
Head of corporate and institutional banking Mike Lyons: every loan credit action is assessed for AI impact; about $5.3 billion of recurring-revenue software exposure is reviewed quarterly.
Feb 20, 2026
2025 10-K: 'risks resulting from the extensive use of models, some of which use AI'[29]
AI/machine-learning models increasingly used with customers and for process automation; AI law named as a constraint.
Feb 10, 2026
BofA conference: the 'Big Five', $1.5 billion of AI-addressable spend[5]
CFO Rob Reilly names software, retail operations, AML compliance, the client care centre and commercial loan processing (Midland); the new mobile app was '100%' agentic coding; on vendors, 'everybody, and a lot in-house'.
Jan 26, 2026
Demchak on useful generative AI, on Odd Lots[27]
Branches, regulation, scale — and what the bank sees in practical gen-AI applications.
Jan 16, 2026
Q4 2025 call: 171 opportunities, $1.4 billion addressable spend, 40 more points of operating leverage by 2030[4][1]
Automation in retail and care-centre operations delivered about 30 points of operating leverage in 2022–25; the AI target is another 40 by 2030; technology spend of about $3.5 billion rises about 10%, with AI 20% of the increase; 'agentic AI for coding' is the headcount example.
Jan 16, 2026
Q4 2025 call: AI is about 20% of the tech-spend increase[31][32]
Investment in technology and branches at an all-time high, with a focus on AI and data-centre modernisation.
Dec 2, 2025
Mobile app being built by orchestrated AI agents, 40–50% complete[3]
Head of retail banking Alex Overstrom: a series of orchestrated AI agents is building the new app faster; launch targeted ahead of the June 2026 FirstBank conversion. Earlier, the online-banking rebuild let PNC change in hours what took six months.
Nov 7, 2025
Investor deck: new mobile app 'developed using agentic AI'[30]
A conference presentation filed with the SEC previews the 2026 mobile banking launch, built with agentic AI.
Sep 8, 2025
Agrees to buy FirstBank for more than $4 billion[28]
Demchak's step toward a $1 trillion bank; a western footprint in Colorado and Arizona.
Apr 19, 2024
Treasury AI survey: 76% of organizations on an AI journey[25]
PNC Treasury Management surveyed more than 120 finance professionals at the national AFP conference; 76% said their organizations had already embarked on their AI journey (32% with initiatives in progress, 44% exploring).

Where AI runs

Where does PNC use AI today?

Figure 2 · Where AI runs at PNC, and how far along. 8 of 14 named systems are in production; the rest are rolling out, piloted or announced. Status is as described in the cited source at its date.

System	What it does	Status	Use case
Agentic software development[22]	The system that built the new PNC Mobile app.	In production	Generative & agentic AI
In-house fraud-blocking models[17]	One of the named targets for the bank's own language models.	Announced	Fraud detection
Call-centre models[17]	Small and large models for call-centre tasks, built in-house.	Announced	Customer-facing chatbots
PNC Claim Predictor[24]	AI and machine learning to flag inaccurate healthcare claims before submission.	In production	Generative & agentic AI
Model-data nutrition labels[19]	Adopting the FSSCC concept for documenting training and input data.	Rolling out	AI governance (general)
Developer-assistance tools[34]	Helped deliver certain offerings about 40% more efficiently; PNC expects larger gains as it expands AI agents.	In production	Generative & agentic AI
Microsoft Copilot, firm-wide[7]	Deployed across the organisation as one of several generative-AI platforms; the 2026 proxy credits it to the enterprise AI strategy.	In production	Generative & agentic AI
AI-enabled search for customer-facing teams[7]	Named in the 2026 proxy alongside the Copilot rollout.	In production	Generative & agentic AI
AML anomaly detection[5]	One of the Big Five: large data sets fed to models looking for anomalies; 'we're making progress there' (Reilly).	Rolling out	AML / KYC
Commercial loan processing (Midland)[5][12]	A Big Five target: AI applied to loan-servicing and processing work in the Midland commercial-loan business.	Rolling out	Credit scoring & underwriting
PNC digital assistant (planned)[1][2]	Overstrom says PNC plans to roll out its own digital assistant later in 2026 and is deliberate about how it will be labelled; the app platform is built for embedded generative-AI assistance.	Announced	Customer-facing chatbots
Open-weight models in PNC data centres[12]	A harness picks the cheapest adequate model; frontier models are reached through hyperscalers, open-weight models run in-house.	In production	Generative & agentic AI
Patented data migration factory[11][13]	Built for the BBVA conversion, improved and used for FirstBank; granted US patent 12,321,323 with a family of continuations.	In production	AI governance (general)
AI model-risk disclosure (10-K)[29]	AI/machine-learning models are a minority of PNC's models but increasingly used with customers and for internal automation; the 10-K names their complexity and the laws that govern them.	In production	Model risk management

Use-case links open the tracker's rules-by-use-case matrix: which documents govern each system type.

The numbers

What has PNC disclosed in numbers?

Metric	Value	As of
Total assets (holding company)	≈ $603 billion[17]	Jun 11, 2026
FirstBank conversion	780,000 customers, 95 branches[23]	Jun 22, 2026
Stated size ambition	$1 trillion of assets[28]	Sep 11, 2025
AI share of the year-over-year increase in technology spending	≈ 20%[31]	Jan 16, 2026
Efficiency gain on certain offerings from developer-assistance tools	≈ 40%[34]	Sep 14, 2026
Annual technology spend	≈ $3.5 billion, rising ≈ 10% in 2026[1]	Jan 16, 2026
AI-addressable spend (the 'Big Five')	$1.4 billion / 171 opportunities (Jan 2026); ≈ $1.5 billion (Feb 2026)[4][5]	Feb 10, 2026
Operating-leverage target from AI, 2025–2030	≈ 40 points (after ≈ 30 from automation in 2022–25)[4]	Jan 16, 2026
AI agents that built the new mobile app	≈ 115[1]	Jul 8, 2026
Mobile app users	≈ 8 million; active users +8% year over year[1]	Jul 8, 2026
Productivity from agent-centred development	5–10x (ten weeks of work in a week or less)[12]	Sep 14, 2026
Recurring-revenue software lending exposure under AI-impact review	≈ $5.3 billion[6]	Mar 10, 2026

In their words

“We are building our own AI factory. We will have our own GPU compute. We will not be as reliant on burning external tokens [as] what we will do internally for our own large language models.”[17]
Bill Demchak · Chairman and CEO · Jun 9, 2026

“AI, absent well-organized, well-curated data, is nothing more than interesting math on a whiteboard.”[19]
Ned Carroll · Head of Data and Automation · Sep 8, 2026

“Making sure agents are doing what they're supposed to do and not doing something else is a top priority for us.”[36]
Mark Wiedman · President · Sep 14, 2026

“AI allows that to continue. Maybe it accelerates through time.”[33]
Bill Demchak · Chairman, President and CEO · Apr 15, 2026

“No, we're everybody. Yeah, everybody, and a lot in-house. You know, we're inclined to, you know, use our own cooking for the most part.”[5]
Rob Reilly · EVP and Chief Financial Officer · Feb 10, 2026

“What we're seeing now as we think about using agents as the center of how we develop software, as opposed to just assisting, is 5 to 10x productivity improvements. So things that would've taken 10 weeks get done in a week or less.”[12]
Mark Wiedman · President · Sep 14, 2026

“The ability to move money quickly with little burden will be more driven by open banking and [application programming interface] connectivity than it will be on AI.”[10]
Bill Demchak · Chairman and CEO · Jun 11, 2026

“were to impede our AI priorities, we would pass on the acquisition, because we wouldn't want to miss out in terms of everything that AI has potentially to deliver, by being distracted by some big acquisition”[35]
Rob Reilly · EVP and Chief Financial Officer · Sep 14, 2026

AI leadership

Who runs AI at PNC?

Bill DemchakLinkedIn ↗

Chairman and CEO[17][27]

Ned CarrollLinkedIn ↗

Head of Data and Automation[19][17]

Deborah GuildLinkedIn ↗

EVP and Head of Technology (generative-AI platforms, AI-enabled search, national data-centre strategy)[7][21]

Alex Overstrom

EVP and Head of Retail Banking (mobile app built by ~115 AI agents; digital assistant planned)[1][3]

Tim Ferriter

Head of Retail Product, Digital and Growth (from JPMorgan Chase, where he led the Chase app and consumer-facing AI strategy)[9]

Tom Kunz

Head of Retail Digital and Payments[2]

Mike Lyons

EVP and Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking (AI-impact review of credit exposures)[6]

Mark Wiedman

President[36][34]

Rob Reilly

EVP and Chief Financial Officer[35][34]

Mark Williamson

SVP and Head of ATM Banking (self-service network, incl. AI integration)[37]

Open AI roles

What AI roles is PNC hiring for?

Data as of Oct 25, 2026 · 12 AI-titled postings · read from PNC's own careers site, re-checked weekly

12 open AI-related postings on PNC's careers site as of Oct 25, 2026. A snapshot of current openings, not a source: postings close. Compare with other banks on which banks are hiring for AI.

Software Engineering Group Manager- Artificial Intelligence

PA - Pittsburgh (15219) · posted Oct 14, 2026

Software Engineer Lead - Data and Automation Machine Learning Operations - (Python, PySpark, Pandas, Hadoop, SQL, MLOps, GenAI, Cloud (AWS, Azure), Helm)

Firstside Center Bldg PA373 (+2 more) · posted Oct 22, 2026

Data Scientist Lead - Data & Automation - Evaluation & Certification (Validation)

PA Pittsburgh (+3 more) · posted Sep 25, 2026

Quantitative Analytics and Model Expert - GenAI Governance

NY New York 10022 (+2 more) · posted Oct 19, 2026

Data Expert - Data and Automation GenAI Governance

Firstside Center Bldg PA373 (+4 more) · posted Oct 23, 2026

Solution Architect Expert (AI)

TX Farmers Branch (+1 more) · posted Oct 9, 2026

AML Quantitative Analytics and Model Development Analyst Senior Machine Learning

PA Pittsburgh 15222 (+3 more)

Quantitative Analytics & Model Consultant Senior - Retail Banking (ML & Predictive modeling)

PA Pittsburgh 15222 (+4 more) · posted Oct 15, 2026

Data Scientist Senior - Internal Audit

PA Pittsburgh 15222 (+4 more) · posted Oct 23, 2026

Quantitative Analytics & Model Analyst Senior - Data Operations and Machine Learning Operations

VA Tysons Corner (+4 more) · posted Oct 13, 2026

Data Scientist - Retail Banking (ML & Predictive Modeling)

PA Pittsburgh 15222 (+2 more) · posted Oct 7, 2026

Data Scientist - Anti-Money Laundering Analytics & Modeling

PA Pittsburgh 15222 (+6 more) · posted Oct 20, 2026

Regulators

Which regulators govern PNC's AI?

Figure 3 · The regulatory perimeter. Each authority links to its tracker page; the number is how many of its documents this page cites. Solid lines are the bank's direct supervisors; dashed lines are consumer, market and global standard-setters that reach it through its activities.

Authority	Why it matters here	Documents
OCC	National bank; in-house models mean the full model-development and validation expectations of the revised guidance apply to PNC's own LLMs.	OCC Bulletin 2026-13
Federal Reserve	Holding-company supervisor; owning compute reduces third-party dependence but concentrates operational risk in-house.	SR 26-2 SR 23-4
Basel Committee	The 'AI factory' is, in effect, a response to the concentration risk the Basel third-party principles and the FSB name in cloud and model providers.	BCBS Third-Party Risk Principles (Dec 2025) BCBS 239
U.S. Treasury	The data 'nutrition label' PNC is adopting is a Treasury-convened AIEOG deliverable alongside the FS AI RMF.	Treasury FS AI RMF and AI Lexicon (Feb 2026)
Colorado AI Act	The FirstBank acquisition makes Colorado a home market: the ADMT Act applies from January 1, 2027.	SB 26-189

Side by side: SR 11-7 vs SR 26-2 · OCC vs CFPB on AI lending · PRA SS1/23 vs SR 26-2 · MAS AI Risk Management Guidelines vs SR 26-2 · EU AI Act vs Colorado AI Act · all comparisons.

What the record suggests

What does the public record suggest about PNC's AI strategy?

Analysis by BankingNewsAI from the sources cited on this page. Observations, not advice.

Owning the factory swaps vendor risk for operational risk

Supervisors have asked banks to manage concentration in a few model and cloud providers; PNC's answer is to become its own provider. That moves the questions to capacity planning, resilience and model validation of home-built LLMs.

Token economics are now a board-level input

Demchak's $35-versus-$1.50 token framing is the clearest public statement that AI productivity gains depend on inference cost. Expect other regionals to cite it.

Data quality is the constraint the bank chose to talk about

'Interesting math on a whiteboard' and the nutrition-label work put PNC on the BCBS 239 side of the AI debate: lineage first, models second.

Agentic development is the proof point, not agentic banking

The rebuilt mobile app shows agents building software; customer-facing agents are not yet part of the public record.

Deeper on PNC

Where does the PNC record go deeper?

5 topic pages under this profile, each answering one question from the same sourced record.

Rankings this bank appears in

Which leader rankings does PNC appear in?

6 of the computed leaders rankings include PNC, each ranked from the same sourced bank pages.

Compare

How does PNC compare with its peers?

Its peer group on this site, by business model and size:

Latest AI news

PNC CEO: Agent-only transactions ‘will never happen’
bankingdive.com · Oct 21, 2026
PNC Quietly Building AI Agents That Don’t Rely on Tech Vendors
bloomberg.com · Oct 15, 2026
PNC Combats AI-Enabled Deposit Flight With Better Tech and Service
pymnts.com · Oct 15, 2026
PNC Economics Research - AI in a Historical Context - October 2026
pnc.com · Oct 6, 2026
PNC, Regions, Citizens execs eschew M&A ‘distraction’
bankingdive.com · Sep 16, 2026

PNC in the daily brief

Oct 16, 2026PNC expands in-house AI capacity while keeping hyperscaler models

Common questions

Who leads AI at PNC?

PNC has no chief AI officer. CEO Bill Demchak sets the direction (the 'AI factory'); EVP and head of technology Deborah Guild runs the generative-AI platforms, AI-enabled search and data-centre strategy; head of data and automation Ned Carroll owns data quality and model-data governance; head of retail banking Alex Overstrom and, since May 2026, Tim Ferriter (from JPMorgan Chase) own the agent-built mobile app and the planned digital assistant; CFO Rob Reilly and president Mark Wiedman speak for the 'Big Five' programme to investors.

What is PNC's 'Big Five' AI programme?

The five areas where PNC says AI can remove about $1.5 billion of addressable spend over time: software (using less of it), retail operations, AML compliance, the client care centre and commercial loan processing in its Midland business. In January 2026 the bank counted 171 opportunities and $1.4 billion; by February the figure was about $1.5 billion, and it targets another 40 points of operating leverage from AI between 2025 and 2030.

What AI patents does PNC hold?

A granted US patent, 12,321,323, for a 'data migration factory', the system Demchak calls the bank's patented data factory, first built for the BBVA conversion and reused for FirstBank, with a family of continuation applications. Published applications cover machine-learning fraud detection, context enrichment for AI-assisted code generation and applying rules via AI to document processing.

What is PNC's 'AI factory'?

In June 2026 PNC CEO Bill Demchak said the bank is building its own AI factory: acquiring its own data centres, buying Nvidia GPUs and building its own large and small language models for banking tasks such as blocking fraud and running call centres. The stated aim is to reduce dependence on external, usage-based AI pricing and avoid vendor lock-in, while still using third-party models where they fit the use case.

Does PNC use AI in its mobile app?

The PNC Mobile app launched in July 2026 was built with the bank's agentic software-development system on a patented data-streaming microservices architecture, which the bank says lets it update the app rapidly. The app itself is a redesigned, personalised banking interface.

How much is PNC investing in AI?

PNC does not publish an AI budget. On its January 2026 earnings call it said technology and branch investment was at an all-time high and that AI accounted for about 20% of the year-over-year increase in technology spending. In September 2026 its CFO said the bank would pass on an acquisition that impeded its AI priorities, and that PNC is increasingly building AI capabilities in-house, including its own computing infrastructure and models.

Sources

PNC's new mobile banking app built on personalization
Banking Dive · Jul 8, 2026
PNC's New Mobile App Delivers an Intuitive, Personalized Experience to Help Clients Seamlessly Manage Their Day-to-Day Financial Lives
PNC via PR Newswire · Jul 7, 2026
PNC wants human-level quality in its digital experience
Banking Dive · Dec 2, 2025
'We're coming' to 'fight you,' PNC's Demchak warns banks
Banking Dive · Jan 21, 2026
PNC Financial at Bank of America Conference: Strategic Growth in 2026 (transcript)
Investing.com · Feb 10, 2026
PNC Financial at RBC Conference: Strategic Expansion and Growth (transcript)
Investing.com · Mar 10, 2026
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. 2026 Proxy Statement (DEF 14A)
PNC via SEC EDGAR · Mar 11, 2026
PNC Financial Services Group Shareholders OK 4 Proposals as CEO Touts 'Strongest' Year
MarketBeat (Yahoo Finance) · Apr 27, 2026
PNC Bank Announces Tim Ferriter as Head of Retail Product, Digital and Growth
PNC via PR Newswire · May 18, 2026
PNC, U.S. Bank CEOs brush off AI-driven cash optimization
Banking Dive · Jun 11, 2026
PNC (PNC) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Yahoo Finance · Jul 15, 2026
PNC at Barclays conference: growth, AI and branch push (transcript)
Investing.com · Sep 14, 2026
US 12,321,323 B1: Data migration factory (assignee PNC Financial Services Group; filed 2024-02-20)
Google Patents (USPTO) · Feb 20, 2024
US 2025/0306861 A1: Dynamic application content enrichment for AI-assisted code generation tools (PNC; filed 2024-10-11)
Google Patents (USPTO) · Oct 11, 2024
US 2025/0104080 A1: Systems and methods for training and applying machine learning systems in fraud detection (PNC; published 2025-03-27)
Google Patents (USPTO) · Mar 27, 2025
US 2025/0094839 A1: Systems and methods for applying rules via artificial intelligence for document processing (PNC; filed 2024-12-04)
Google Patents (USPTO) · Dec 4, 2024
Why PNC is building its own 'AI factory'
American Banker · Jun 11, 2026
PNC's solution to rising AI costs: build its own AI
American Banker · Jun 12, 2026
Do banks need a nutrition label for their AI model data?
American Banker · Sep 8, 2026
PNC Bank rolls out new mobile banking app
American Banker · Jul 8, 2026
The Most Powerful Women to Watch, No. 8, Deborah Guild, PNC Bank
American Banker · Sep 24, 2025
PNC's New Mobile App Delivers an Intuitive, Personalized Experience to Help Clients Seamlessly Manage Their Day-to-Day Financial Lives
PNC via FT Markets · Jul 7, 2026
PNC Completes FirstBank Customer Conversion
PNC via FT Markets · Jun 22, 2026
AI In Healthcare: How Will It Be Used In Your Practice?
PNC · Jun 1, 2025
Futuristic Finance: Unlocking AI's Possibilities for Treasury Management
PNC · Apr 19, 2024
Candidate AI Guidelines
PNC Careers · May 15, 2026
What It Takes to Build One of The World's Biggest Banks
Bloomberg · Jan 26, 2026
The CEO Who Wants to Double the Size of His Bank to $1 Trillion
The Wall Street Journal · Sep 11, 2025
PNC Financial Services Group Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2025
PNC via SEC EDGAR · Feb 20, 2026
PNC investor conference presentation, November 2025 (Form 8-K exhibit)
PNC via SEC EDGAR · Nov 7, 2025
The PNC Financial Services Group Q4 Earnings Call Highlights
MarketBeat (Yahoo Finance) · Jan 16, 2026
PNC Financial Services Group Inc (PNC) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Highlights
GuruFocus (Yahoo Finance) · Jan 16, 2026
PNC (PNC) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
The Motley Fool (Yahoo Finance) · Apr 15, 2026
PNC Financial Reaffirms Outlook as Loans, Fees and AI Investments Gain Momentum
MarketBeat (Yahoo Finance) · Sep 18, 2026
PNC, Regions, Citizens execs eschew M&A 'distraction'
Banking Dive · Sep 16, 2026
BofA and PNC respond to rising AI fears
American Banker · Sep 14, 2026
Mark Williamson hired as Head of ATM Banking
Columbus Business First (bizjournals.com) · Sep 25, 2026

Other banks

PNC Financial Services:the AI strategy, sourced.