Dive Brief:

• PNC has applied with regulators to close 29 branches, the Pittsburgh Business Journal reported Monday. The bank closed 16 in May, part of an earlier filing with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
• The bank had been in the "consolidation business" for some time, averaging 50 to 70 branch consolidations a year, according to PNC’s retail transformation manager, Dawn Fabian. In November, she said the bank was set to increase that number to 80 to 100 per year over the next five years.
• The targeted branches are set to close in August, Marcey Zwiebel, PNC’s senior vice president and director of corporate public relations, said via email Monday. That's a delay from a June or July time frame for some of the branches, she said.

Dive Insight:

The 29 expected closures mark the biggest round the Pittsburgh-based bank has planned this year. It also would nearly double — to 60 — the number of branches the bank will have closed this year.

Zweibel said there's no link between the closures and the coronavirus. However, the pandemic may have helped boost digital adoption at the bank. About 71% of PNC customers used non-teller channels for the majority of their transactions during this year’s first quarter, compared with 68% in the first quarter of 2019, the Pittsburgh Business Journal reported. That shift in behavior may have helped the bank target lesser-used branches for closure. Others may have closed due to overlap from previous acquisitions.

PNC last month put itself in position for further acquisitions, announcing it would sell its $17 billion stake in asset manager BlackRock.

The 29 branches slated for closure in August are spread out among 11 states.