CEO Says KeyBank Will Compete In Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- With 60 branches and 600 employees in this region, KeyBank has moved quickly to establish itself after acquiring First Niagara Bank last year.

"We came here to be a good neighbor, a good partner, and really serve the customers and the community of Pittsburgh," KeyBank CEO Beth Mooney told KDKA money editor Jon Delano on Monday.

Mooney is CEO of the Cleveland-based bank that operates in 16 states with assets of $135 billion.

Not as big as PNC or Citizens, Mooney says KeyBank, in the top five in Pittsburgh, focuses on the one-on-one customer relationship.

"When you take a people business and give them the tools to really serve their clients and the community, I think we're going to be a really good bank for the Pittsburgh market," she said.

So does that mean lower fees?

"We looked at each and every client of First Niagara, and made sure we didn't introduce any new fees to them," Mooney said.

KeyBank is not only the newest kid in Pittsburgh, but it also has something the other banks don't have.

It's the first American Top-20 bank to appoint a woman as its CEO.

Will that make a difference for customer service?

"We really try to make sure that our communities understand that our purpose is to help our clients and our communities thrive, and we do that through being values-based, relationship-based, and maybe there is some of my fingerprints in that strategy," says Mooney.

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Mooney says banks are changing for women, too.

"It has historically been known as being male-dominated, but again, I think over the last couple decades it has become a very good place for women," she said.

"If I look at our bank, our leadership team across the bank, we have many, many women, probably over 40 percent of our senior managers are women. So I think times have changed," Mooney said.

And she's banking that will help KeyBank grow in Pittsburgh.