The CEO of PNC Financial Services Group says the bank won't waste any time in implementing cost-cutting measures after it completes its acquisition of Raleigh-based RBC Bank.
"We'll get the vast majority of the cost saves out of the acquisition in the first six months," CEO Jim Rohr told analysts Wednesday during a conference call.
Pittsburgh-based PNC, which announced last month that it was buying RBC for $3.45 billion, has said that it expects to reduce annual costs at RBC by $230 million "through operational and administrative efficiency improvements."
That inevitably will include trimming jobs, although Rohr said when the deal was announced that no decisions had been made on how many jobs would be eliminated. The sale is expected to be completed in March.
The job cuts aren't expected to be as severe as they would be if the operations of the two banks significantly overlapped. The only markets where the two banks both have branches are in Florida. RBC has 424 branches in six states.
RBC employs about 5,000 people, including 500 in Raleigh, and already has cut hundreds of jobs as part of its effort to turn around the business. RBC's corporate parent, Royal Bank of Canada, put the business up for sale after tiring of its heavy losses.
Rohr has said the company plans to maintain RBC's operations center in Rocky Mount and needs all the bank's "customer-facing people," which includes branch staff and commercial loan officers who work with businesses.
PNC reported Wednesday that its net income in the second quarter rose 15 percent to $912 million.
