PNC profit jumps 18% as FirstBank acquisition boosts lending growth

PNC Financial Services Group posted an 18% jump in first-quarter profit as the $4.1 billion FirstBank acquisition began feeding into the bank’s lending engine and branch network across the Southwest. The Pittsburgh lender said the deal, completed Jan. 5, 2026, immediately folded FirstBank’s results into consolidated operations and helped lift net interest income as loan demand strengthened.

The acquisition brought in FirstBank, a Lakewood, Colorado lender with $26.8 billion in assets as of June 30, 2025, and 95 branches in Colorado and Arizona. PNC had said the purchase would significantly expand its presence in both states and deepen its corporate and private banking franchises, while Bill Demchak said the deal would effectively make PNC a much larger player in Colorado.

That scale showed up in the quarter’s numbers. Net interest income rose 14% to $3.96 billion from a year earlier, net interest margin widened 17 basis points to 2.95%, and total loans climbed 13% to $360.9 billion. PNC said the improvement reflected the FirstBank transaction, commercial loan growth and lower deposit costs. Average loans reached $350.9 billion in the quarter, while average deposits were $458.4 billion.

The integration was not free. PNC booked $98 million in pre-tax integration costs in the quarter, part of an expected $325 million total, but management still had enough room to keep returning capital to shareholders. The bank repurchased nearly $700 million of stock and paid $700 million in common dividends, bringing total shareholder returns in the quarter to $1.4 billion. Its common equity tier 1 capital ratio stood at 10.1%.

Beyond interest income, the quarter pointed to a broader pickup in client activity. Fee income rose 13%, and capital markets and advisory revenue jumped 51% to $463 million. PNC said the quarter reflected healthy business across its markets, and the stock has climbed about 6% so far this year as investors weigh the bank’s acquisition strategy against a still-shifting rate and credit backdrop.

For consumers and businesses in Colorado and Arizona, the FirstBank deal has immediate practical implications. PNC said the transaction would add 13 FirstBank branches in Arizona and push its Arizona presence to more than 70 branches, while also giving it a much larger footprint in Denver and across Colorado. That gives PNC more local reach for deposits, lending and advisory services, and raises the stakes for smaller regional rivals trying to defend local relationships as consolidation reshapes the market.