PNC is cutting 777 jobs at the Lakewood, Colorado, headquarters of the recently acquired FirstBank, the Pittsburgh-based lender told state officials last Friday.
About 410 employees will be displaced around June 30, with another 367 to follow July 31, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification seen by Banking Dive.
“As part of the integration process, we have done a careful review of roles with FirstBank and PNC and where overlap occurs. This has resulted in organizational changes, primarily in Colorado,” a PNC spokesperson said in an email. “While these decisions are never easy, we believe they will help us more effectively deliver for our clients.”
Not all affected employees are leaving the company; some have accepted open jobs at PNC, while others are being encouraged to apply, the spokesperson said.
“Through its work with FirstBank, PNC identified a strong, established technology talent base in Colorado and made the decision to establish Denver as a strategic Technology location for the enterprise,” the spokesperson said.
PNC is retaining all client-facing roles, the spokesperson said.
PNC announced last September it would acquire FirstBank in a $4.1 billion deal. That transaction closed in January.
At the time, PNC CEO Bill Demchak called the combination the “beginning of a partnership built on shared values and a vision for growth.”
“By combining FirstBank’s strong local relationships with PNC’s national capabilities, we’re poised to deliver even greater opportunities for our customers and communities,” he said.
While reporting first-quarter earnings last week, PNC noted $98 million in pre-tax integration costs, adding it expects that figure to expand to $325 million once FirstBank is fully absorbed.
The bank did, however, credit FirstBank while touting a 7% quarter-over-quarter increase in average loans, to $23 billion.
PNC notified FirstBank customers last month that their accounts will be converted starting June 18.
FirstBank’s longtime Lakewood headquarters building will not close, PNC said in its WARN letter. Rather, other company employees will continue working there.
The FirstBank acquisition gave PNC $26 billion in extra assets, $16 billion in loans and $23 billion in deposits. It also added 95 branches to the fold, effectively tripling the Pittsburgh bank’s brick-and-mortar presence in Colorado.
