By Gina Heeb and Miriam Gottfried

PNC Financial Services Group hired Mark Wiedman as its president, tapping the former BlackRock executive to help lead efforts under Chief Executive Bill Demchak to position the bank ahead of the curve with competitors at a pivotal moment for the industry.

A two-decade veteran of BlackRock, Wiedman was most recently the head of its global client business. He had been viewed as a lead contender to take over for CEO Larry Fink until his departure from the firm this year. In the new role, which is effective immediately, Wiedman will be at the top of the succession list for Demchak.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Demchak said not to read into the hire and that there is still a lot he wants to get done at PNC. Wiedman, he said, will need to learn the business and bring in "new ingredients" to help the bank as it explores ways to grow in spaces such as technology and payments.

The Pittsburgh-based bank will continue to focus on its traditional businesses, Demchak said. But, he added that the industry has changed so much that the way executives approach it "can't be the same" as it once was. He pointed to more competition with nonbanks, such as private credit, as well as major shifts in the landscape for regulations, technology and cryptocurrency.

"That's a blank slate we need to fill in," Demchak said.

The traditional Main Street bank model has increasingly been under pressure, as megabanks such as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America benefit from their scale, diverse businesses and technology investments.

Demchak has said that scale matters for banks more than ever before. In the Monday interview, he called PNC a "natural consolidator" and said it was a plus that Wiedman has completed previous integrations. Wiedman called the bank's success completing earlier deals a strength.

Known for his quick wit and ability to charm clients, Wiedman led the integration of Barclays Global Investors and the iShares exchange-traded fund business after BlackRock acquired them in 2009. He oversaw growth in the iShares business, which catapulted BlackRock to the largest asset manager in the world. He was interested in a CEO role when he left BlackRock, the Journal reported.

The departure from BlackRock felt a bit like "throwing myself into the void," Wiedman said in an interview. But then he got a call from Demchak to gauge his interest in PNC. The bank, in his view, is "in a position to win." He plans to move to Pittsburgh. (Demchak helped set him up with a real-estate agent there.)

The timing was what he and Demchak called "serendipity." The two have known each other for years, having met when PNC hired BlackRock's financial-market advisory business to consult on its balance sheet. PNC used to hold a big BlackRock stake, and Demchak served on its board.

Write to Gina Heeb at gina.heeb@wsj.com and Miriam Gottfried at Miriam.Gottfried@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 07, 2025 17:29 ET (21:29 GMT)

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