While some banks are partnering with technology giants to offer banking products, Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. is not interested in this customer-acquisition strategy.
When asked if PNC would consider a partnership similar to Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Google LLC's recently announced partnership with Citigroup Inc. and Stanford FCU, CEO William Demchak was opposed.
"I think the moment you put your distribution strategy in the hands of somebody else, it is a mistake. You effectively sold yourself to the devil," he said at a Dec. 10 presentation at the Goldman Sachs U.S. Financial Services Conference.
He likened banks to being the engine and backbone of these partnerships, while the technology company is handed the bank's relationships.
He said PNC's use of financial technology was its own decision and a process it controlled.
"You don't want to get to a place where you don't have that option," he said.