PNC Bank is now open at 5717 W. Chicago Ave., marking the fifth financial institution in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, which has been historically underbanked for decades.
Though fully operational as of July 7, the Austin branch will have its grand opening Sept. 27, along with Forty Acres Fresh Market, which is in the same building and intends to launch on the same day.
According to Carlos Abad, a senior vice president and head of PNC retail banking for Chicago and Wisconsin, the first month of the branch’s business has been impressive.
“It’s atypical what we’re seeing,” Abad told Austin Weekly News in terms of the new branch’s high traffic. Abad said he visited the branch over two weeks after its soft opening and heard multiple clients express how thankful they were to no longer drive to the PNC Bank in Cicero or Ukrainian Village. “This feels like this was a needed part of the community.”
Though the number of financial institutions has recently been growing for West Siders, the Austin neighborhood has long been without adequate financial resources for its population. Even with five banks for about 100,000 residents, Austin is far behind, for example, Oak Park, which has about three times that number of banks for half the amount of Oak Park residents.
“I would say, for at least 10 years, there’s been one bank in Austin, which is ridiculous,” Austin native Michelle Collins previously told Austin Weekly News of the presence of U.S. Bank. Collins is a retired community development banker who was instrumental in getting the Great Lakes Credit Union’s Leaders Network branch to open last year.
But the PNC bank is a recent addition, as is BMO bank that opened in the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation in June.
To set itself apart from the growing number of banks in Austin, across all its branches, PNC employees prioritize tailored financial advice and hospitality, according to Abad.
“From the broad umbrella, all the way to the very specific needs of the community, it’s our people that really differentiate us,” Abad said, adding that it seems like PNC’s bilingual employees have met a need in Austin. “What we deliver is much more emotional connectivity to the community.”
And the Chicago Avenue PNC branch offers more than just typical financial transactions.
PNC representatives said they proactively engaged the community as a part of the company’s community benefits plan that launched in 2022. Since then, PNC has funneled $88 billion into low- and moderate-income communities through home and small business loans, community financing and philanthropy — all to better quality of life and economic growth in these areas.
“We understand that we have to create wealth for the low- and moderate-income communities that are, for the most part, the fabric of most of our West Side. That means we got to get very explicit about how we’re going to do that,” said Tony Smith, head of community development banking in the Midwest.
That ‘how’ includes increasing homeownership, the amount of money West Siders are investing and awareness of defined distribution plans, Smith said, especially considering the West Side has an above-average concentration of public workers, teachers and other employees who are a part of pension programs.
“They don’t necessarily know that the volume or velocity at which you invest in these programs will be an important determinant of how much wealth you have when you’re ready to retire or you’re ready to leave assets to your children,” Smith said. “In a lot of our work, we try to reflect the priorities of the community, rather than, just very narrowly, the priorities of PNC.”
In connecting with the Austin community, PNC repeatedly heard that residents wanted infrastructure in their neighborhood that they saw elsewhere in Chicago. That includes grocery stores, restaurants, well-landscaped streets, parks, high performing schools, and of course, banks.
“When they look at a bank, they see it as a solution for less-attractive alternatives, all of those predatory sources,” Smith said. “That’s important because, if we’re going to bring a presence to that community, what we want to do is to bring everything, not just a place to conduct transactions.”
Smith said that PNC probably has one of the largest portfolios of affordable housing along Austin Boulevard. The bank also partners with HUD-certified counseling agencies, was a tax credit investor in Breakthrough Urban Ministries and sponsors the organizations’ Light in the Night event. He also mentions PNC’s community micro equity program, which provides loans and partners to work with organizations to navigate the challenges that small businesses often face.
Since PNC selected the Chicago Avenue site about two-and-a-half years ago, they have been involved with neighborhood organizations and boards. These include the Austin African American Business Networking Association, Community Investment Association, Austin Chamber of Commerce, the Austin Town Hall Farmers Market, Neighborhood Housing Services and Sweet Beginnings.
“These are just examples of how we are seeking to be extremely proactive in our approach to this branch and to the community, which matches our approach all around,” Abad said.
“If we do anything well when we’re in a community, we get connected to those organizations that are solving those real challenges for the neighborhood,” Smith said. He adds that, in the last year, PNC has given over $100,000 to local organizations.
And PNC aims to continue to invest in the growth of the Austin community.
“This, to me, is that next important step, putting in brick and mortar there,” Smith said. “When people see new buildings going up, there’s a spark of hope that ‘This is my neighborhood, and it’s getting better’ and we’re committed to that.”
Smith added, “We’re there to be a partner and really do hope there will be, not just a good partner, but a great one.”
