PNC Gets Knock-Down Deal for Riggs

Stephen Harris

11 February 2005

PNC Financial Services has negotiated a 16 per cent discount on its purchase of Riggs National. The deal comes after a tense period of negotiations between the two banks, which earlier this week saw the Riggs board “unanimously rejecting” PNC’s move to alter the amount originally agreed. After PNC originally paid $779 million last July for the Washington-based bank, Riggs pleaded guilty to money laundering under the US Bank Secrecy Act. This led to PNC demanding to pay a lower price for Riggs, which use to refer to itself as the “bank of presidents”. Earlier this month, Bank Leumi paid $25 million for Riggs Bank & Trust Ltd. The deal was agreed just a few days after Riggs’s guilty plea.