Bank of America is planning to open its first retail branches in the Pittsburgh region.
The nation’s second biggest bank — with assets of $2.3 trillion — has selected sites for three newly constructed branches in Upper St. Clair, Wexford and East Liberty.
The branches in Upper St. Clair at 1801 Washington Road and in Wexford on Perry Highway are expected to open by the end of the year. No opening date was set for the third office, on the corner of Baum Boulevard and S. Euclid Avenue.
The push into Western Pennsylvania is “just a natural evolution of our commitment to Pittsburgh,” Pittsburgh market president Brian Ludwick said in an interview Monday.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank has had commercial lending operations in this region for about 20 years. It also offers wealth management services here through its Merrill Lynch unit. Regional headquarters are at 600 Grant St. in the U.S. Steel Tower.
While some observers consider the Pittsburgh region already overbanked, with 46 financial institutions serving the area, Mr. Ludwick didn’t agree.
“We think there is a lot of opportunity here for us,” he said.
Bank of America, which has retail operations in Ohio and in Philadelphia, plans to open additional retail locations and ATMs here over the next few years, but hasn’t decided how many, he said.
“We don’t have a definitive number. It’s very early for us,” he said.
“We really like Pittsburgh. We think there is a lot we can bring to the region.”
Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group is this region’s market leader, with a commanding 42.8 percent share of deposits, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It is the nation’s sixth biggest bank, with assets of about $380 billion.
Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank, with about $140 billion in assets, abandoned its retail network in the Pittsburgh region in 2015 after slowly trying to gain a foothold here over the previous decade. It sold its 17 branch offices to the area’s No. 3 bank, FNB.
“Our aspiration is to be a significant market share player in each of our retail markets and we determined the investment required to achieve that was too high relative to our other strategic priorities,” a Fifth Third spokeswoman said at the time of the divestiture.
Patricia Sabatini: PSabatini@post-gazette.com; 412-263-3066.
First Published: January 29, 2018, 4:20 p.m.
