As technology makes it easier for clients to move deposits in search of higher interest rates, banks must compete by providing better solutions, PNC Financial Services Group Chairman and CEO William Demchak said Thursday (Oct. 15).

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Demchak said this during the bank’s third-quarter earnings call, when asked by an analyst about the potential impact of agentic artificial intelligence on deposits and banks’ costs of keeping those deposits.

PYMNTS reported Oct. 6 that AI agents could remove the friction that has kept money sitting in bank accounts that pay no interest.

During Thursday’s call, Demchak said deposit movement has been becoming more efficient for years and that the trend will continue. There have already been tools such as capital market portals that let clients shop for money market funds.

“All that stuff is going to get easier, and this is going to happen over time,” Demchak said. “To win in that period of time, we’re going to have to offer our clients technology that is as good as these third-party providers, so we can allow them to do what they want, and, importantly, we’re going to need to produce it cheaply to keep their business.”

Robert Reilly, chief financial officer at PNC Financial Services Group, added: “And maintain the service aspects of a transaction account.”

Addressing the issue of agentic AI, Demchak said attempts to have agents transact on a user’s behalf inside their accounts is “incredibly unsafe” and “not going to happen.”

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