Dive Brief:

• Karen Larrimer, PNC’s chief customer officer and head of retail banking, will retire after 27 years at the company, the Pittsburgh-based bank announced last week.
• Larrimer, who will remain as the bank's chief customer officer through 2022, will step down on July 1, and will be replaced by Alex Overstrom, PNC's current head of small business and deputy head of retail banking, the bank said.
• Overstrom, who has been with the $541 billion-asset bank for nearly eight years, will report directly to PNC Chairman, President and CEO Bill Demchak, PNC said.

Dive Insight:

“I am personally grateful to Karen for her leadership during my time as CEO," Demchak said in a statement. "She is an exceptional executive and banker whose guidance and insights have benefited the bank and our customers in many ways.”

As head of PNC’s retail division, Larrimer led the bank’s digital expansion, which included the creation of its “solution centers” in expansion markets. The initiative, which has been referred to as a branch-lite model, was rolled out in 2018 with the goal of providing customers with the option to interact with PNC’s technology, such as video banking in addition to staff.

Larrimer also led the launch of PNC’s “low cash mode” last year, the bank said.

The feature alerts customers when their balance is low and allows 24 hours of “extra time” to prevent or address overdrafts before fees are charged.

As PNC's first chief customer officer, Larrimer led several efforts designed to improve the bank's customer experience such as establishing the Office of the Customer. 

Larrimer also led the roll out of an analytical measurement tool to gauge employee and customer satisfaction, PNC said.

Overstrom will move into the top retail banking role after serving as head of merchant services, chief operating officer of corporate and institutional banking and asset management and head of aviation finance, the bank said. 

Following the bank’s $11.6 billion acquisition of BBVA’s U.S. arm, Overstrom led the enterprise integration and conversion of BBVA USA. 

That integration involved the conversion of 2.6 million customers, 9,000 employees and nearly 600 branches to PNC’s systems in less than one year, PNC said.

Prior to joining PNC in 2014, Overstrom worked in strategy and investment banking at Goldman Sachs.