(Bloomberg) -- After a tumultuous year, banks are looking to be something investors and customers rarely see companies call themselves: boring.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. announced Monday that it’s launched a national advertising campaign to persuade customers that its bank is “brilliantly boring.” And it’s not the first lender to use the label. At a recent industry conference, Fifth Third Bancorp executives quipped that “boring is good,” and analysts say a tone of staidness is comforting given the sector’s recent turmoil.

“In a frenetic industry that sometimes chases shiny objects, we’ve grown our business by focusing on the essential financial needs of customers, patiently nurturing relationships over generations and delivering results,” PNC Chief Executive Officer William Demchak said in a statement. “We believe this ‘boring’ approach positions us extremely well for growth opportunities on the horizon.”

Regional banks have been under pressure for about a year, since the rapid collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March 2023, followed by First Republic Bank’s failure. The industry grappled with increasing competition for deposits last year, and New York Community Bancorp recently drew investors’ focus back to the sector as its stock tumbled more than 60% this year.

 

“When you reflect on the last year within the banking sector — and the bank failures, and the volatility of stock-price performance, and the high level of uncertainty and anxiety — boring is a comforting message,” Stephens Inc. analyst Terry McEvoy, who has an equal-weight rating on PNC shares, said in an interview. “Boring, over time, tends to produce outsize returns.”

The lender has grown from its Pittsburgh origins in the mid-1800s to be one of the largest US banks. With more than $500 billion of assets, it’s a so-called super-regional bank. The minute-long advertisement that PNC is launching Monday starts in a dreary DMV office, shifts to a more-exciting rocket launch and concludes with the narrator lounging on a beach. Throughout the journey, he lists times when being boring is useful. 

“Taking chances is for skateboarding and gas-station sushi — not banking. That’s why PNC Bank strives to be boring with your money,” the actor says. Sipping from a coconut topped with a pineapple wedge and paper parasol, he concludes with, “Thank you, boring.”

--With assistance from Neil Callanan.

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