Dive Brief:

• Amy Wierenga has been named PNC’s next chief risk officer, effective Sept. 8, the bank said Tuesday.  
• Wierenga, who joined the lender in February 2024, is head of financial and model risk for PNC’s independent risk management organization, leading the bank’s chief credit officer, chief market risk officer, chief model risk officer and credit risk review organizations, the bank said.
• Wierenga will succeed Kieran Fallon, who has served as the Pittsburgh-based bank’s risk chief since February 2021. Fallon will return to PNC’s legal department, as deputy general counsel and strategic regulatory adviser in charge of exam oversight. He’ll report to PNC’s general counsel, Laura Long. 

Dive Insight:

Wierenga will join the lender’s executive committee and report to CEO Bill Demchak. 

Prior to joining $559 billion-asset PNC, she spent four years as chief risk officer at alternative asset manager GCM Grosvenor, where she led global risk strategy, oversight and quantitative modeling and research, the bank said. 

Before that, she spent nearly a dozen years at BlueMountain Capital Management, as partner, chief risk officer and head of risk and portfolio construction, and served as a commissioned bank examiner and market risk specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago earlier in her career.   

“I am confident that Amy’s experience, leadership and strong relationships across and beyond PNC will lend significant value to our Risk organization, Executive Committee and PNC more broadly,” Demchak said in the news release.

In his new role, Fallon will help the bank “navigate an evolving regulatory landscape” and work closely with Ursula Pfeil, the deputy general counsel who oversees regulatory affairs and regulatory policy at the bank, the release said. The independent risk management regulatory affairs team led by David Shernisky will continue to report to Fallon, PNC said.

“Kieran stepped into the chief risk officer role during a critical time for both PNC and the banking industry,” Demchak said. “Over the past five years, he has strengthened our Independent Risk Management (IRM) organization, guided us through industry and economic shifts, and helped us support clients’ credit needs while maintaining the integrity of our risk profile.”

Fallon has been at PNC since 2011, serving as chief counsel of regulatory affairs and senior deputy general counsel overseeing regulatory, government affairs and enterprise risk. Prior to joining the bank, he spent about 16 years as associate general counsel at the Federal Reserve, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

The role of risk chief has gained prominence at banks in the past 15 years, as the position has become increasingly complex. And 2023’s regional bank failures prompted bank CROs to take on higher corporate profiles and sharpen their skill sets. PNC, in particular, has touted its prudent risk management with its “brilliantly boring” advertising campaign, launched last year.