PNC's local deposits less than predecessor

Newcomer PNC Bank has far less deposits in the Charlotte metro area than the bank it acquired had last year, according to the FDIC's new deposit market share report, but the Pittsburgh bank says it's not because people closed accounts.

PNC had $421 million in local deposits as of June 2012, according to the report. RBC Bank, which PNC acquired last year, had nearly $1.1 billion.

Spokesman Fred Solomon said that's due to two factors: PNC moved some corporate deposits formerly located in Charlotte to other cities like Raleigh or up to Pittsburgh, and Royal Bank of Canada kept its Canadian customers' deposits when it sold its U.S. unit.

The issue of where banks record corporate deposits makes the FDIC's report hard to interpret in Charlotte, and not just for PNC.

Bank of America grew to $161 billion in deposits in the Charlotte area this year, or 80.1 percent share, according to the report. All but a few billion come from the uptown 28202 area code, where the global headquarters sits. It's unclear how many are local retail deposits.

Wells Fargo's deposits in the Charlotte metro area jumped more than 40 percent since last year, though the level is similar to that of 2010, to $25.8 billion. Its market share increased to 12.82 percent.

It's unclear whether Wells Fargo is truly losing the local retail deposit war, however. Before being acquired by Wells, Wachovia had repeatedly taken the top spot in local deposit share.

After the acquisition, the bank's Charlotte-area deposits plummeted over the next few years as, presumably, Wells moved corporate deposits elsewhere.

Wells Fargo still has more local branches and employees than Bank of America.