National City acquisition by PNC

The National City acquisition by PNC was the deal by PNC Financial Services to acquire National City Corp. on October 24, 2008 following National City's untenable loan losses during the subprime mortgage crisis. The deal received much controversy due to PNC using TARP funds to buy National City only hours after accepting the funds while National City itself was denied funds, as well as civic pride for the city of Cleveland, Ohio, where National City was based.

Both PNC and National City's corporate histories date to the mid-19th century, when National City was founded as the City Bank of Cleveland in 1845 while PNC was founded in longtime Cleveland rival Pittsburgh as the Pittsburgh Trust and Savings Company in 1852. Both banks would later receive national charters under the National Banking Act, with National City being able to print U.S. currency until the United States Treasury assumed operations in the 1920s. Both would have strong bases in their home markets, although PNC would until the 1980s be dwarfed in Pittsburgh by Mellon Bank (now The Bank of New York Mellon) and the massive influence of the Mellon family.

Both banks began interstate expansion in the 1980s, with the two eventually competing in Cincinnati and Louisville by the end of the decade. In late 1992, PNC announced plans to acquire Youngstown, Ohio-based Ohio Bancorp. PNC later backed out of the deal, and National City acquired Ohio Bancorp instead in 1993, with the same branches and even some employees of Ohio Bancorp still employed with National City at the time of the PNC deal.

Although PNC would never enter the Cleveland market on its own before the National City deal, National City did enter Pittsburgh in late 1995 with its acquisition of Pittsburgh-based Integra Bank, putting it in third in market share behind PNC and Mellon, and eventually second after Mellon sold off its retail banking division to RBS-owned Citizens Financial Group in 2001.

...
Wikipedia