Starting today, all Mercantile bank branches in the metro area will operate under the PNC Bank name, boosting PNC’s number of Washington-area branches from about 60 to 140. On the weekend, PNC closed the newly acquired Mercantile branches to complete the conversion process, an 11-month effort by PNC and former Mercantile employees.

Expanding from the Northeast to the Washington metro market and the overall mid-Atlantic market is a “perfect fit” and a “logical place” for PNC, said Laila Krause, executive vice president for PNC, based in Washington. The area is “extraordinarily interesting,” with high income, education and homeownership levels, Krause added.