Banker's Academy Blog | Financial Services Industry

PNC Bank Still Cutting Hundreds of Branches

July 21, 2015 -- In the past few years, the banking and financial conglomerate has shut down hundreds of retail branches. In 2013, the Group disclosed plans to close about 200 branches as part of a plan to reduce expenses by almost $700 million, while in 2014 PNC announced plans to remodel its branches by converting over 300 locations to its tellerless “universal” concept by March of 2015.

However, in the first quarter of 2015, PNC has already closed more branches than any other financial institution in the country, bringing its total number of branches to only 2,790 across the United States.

In June of this year, during the bank’s second-quarter earnings call, CEO William Demchak told financial analysts about further cuts and consolidations. The CEO cited a plan to reduce its network by ten percent (approximately 400 branches) due to the exponential increase in online and mobile banking, which reduces the need for in-branch services.

In response to these new ways of customer banking, PNC unveiled its new branch concept back in 2014. The new concept calls for about 1,800 square feet per location, as opposed to traditional locations of 3,500 square feet. In addition to the reduced space, many branches are going “tellerless,” instead making use of a solution center with PNC customer service personnel trained to handle banking needs. Further online and automated accessibility at branches are being added, though traditional features such as safe-deposit boxes will continue to be maintained.

These changes are set to improve efficiency while reducing errors and overall business costs.

Edcomm Banker’s Academy helps companies navigate such profound shifts as these with efficient eLearning delivery systems. One of our most popular offerings is the “Universal Teller” curriculum which helps a bank define the new role of a teller, helping to shape a Teller’s job description into one more of elite service rep and revenue generator. Rapid change in a corporate culture and methodology can be more easily achieved with a sophisticated and focused consolidated Learning Management strategy.

Sources

Blumenthal, Jeff. “PNC cutting 100 branches this year.” Philadelphia Business Journal. Philadelphia Business Journal, 17 July 2015. Web. 21 July 2015.

Fleisher, Chris. “300 PNC branches to become tellerless.” TribLive. Trib Total Media, 10 December 2014. Web. 21 July 2015.

Olson, Thomas. “PNC to shut 200 branches as part of $700 million in cuts.” TribLive. Trib Total Media, 5 March 2013. Web. 21 July 2015.

Money Laundering A Growing Issue In Midst of Chinese Stock Market Collapse

July 20, 2015 -- At the beginning of June, the Dow Jones Shenzhen Index fell harder than the Shanghai Composite, and, according to one Forbes contributor, is currently under its uptrend line as well as the 600 to 660 resistance zone that must be surpassed to reverse the recent breakdown.

Since the crash, mainland China’s stock market has fluctuated wildly. To combat the chaos, Chinese authorities have taken several aggressive, and some say reckless, countermeasures, including bank reserve requirements and interest rate cuts, curbing Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), loosening margin requirements, allowing the use of property as collateral for margin loans, and encouraging brokerage firms to buy stocks with cash from the People’s Bank of China, the central bank of the People’s Republic of China. The government also asked major brokerages to form a fund worth $19 billion to buy shares, which helped only a few stocks while the majority continued to fall.

Furthermore, the Chinese government has created a state-run margin trader worth over $483 billion in its attempt to stem the stock market rout threatening to assail the economic sector. Even more troubling, the Chinese police ministry and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (SRC) announced a probe to investigate evidence of “malicious” short selling of stocks and indexes.

Amidst the chaos of the stock market, the Chinese government should be monitoring money laundering more closely than ever, as current and potential investors, who would rather move assets to safer havens in foreign countries, increase currency outflows.

Not only is China a leading source of illicit capital flows, as reported in the 2015 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) of the United States’ Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, but China has consistently failed to cooperate with other countries while resolving cross-border money laundering cases.

Edcomm Banker’s Academy offers both domestic and foreign Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Compliance programs in our course catalogs. Sample some of our innovatve training tutorials today!

Sources

“China Unleashes $483 Billion to Stem the Market Rout.” Bloomberg Business. Bloomberg, 17 July 2015. Web. 20 July 2015.

Denyer, Simon and Steven Mufson. “A rejuvenated China? Stock market crash punches a hole in Xi's dream.” The Washington Post. The Washington Post, 8 July 2015. Web. 20 July 2015.

Lubman, Stanley. “Dirty Dealing: China and International Money Laundering.” The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc., 13 July 2015. Web. 20 July 2015.