The deal, which would be one of the largest bank tie-ups since the financial crisis, would create the fifth-largest U.S. retail bank with more than $550b in assets, a giant in an industry that has been slow to consolidate.
It would signal a retreat from the U.S. for BBVA, formally called Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Spain’s second-largest lender with a major presence in Latin America too. It paid about $10 billion in 2007 to acquire Compass, which gave it a long-desired foothold in the U.S., but BBVA has at least twice written down the value of the business and earlier this year warned of another charge as the coronavirus pandemic tore through the U.S. economy.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/pnc-is-in-advanced-talks-to-buy-u-s-arm-of-spains-bbva-11605483824