PNC Financial Services Group Inc. has received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice concerning its relationships with merchants for payment-processing services, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The company made the disclosure as it faces ongoing mortgage probes by prosecutors. In the filing, PNC said the DOJ asked for information on the "return rate" for certain "merchant and payment processor customers with whom PNC has a depository relationship." The DOJ and other regulators have been probing the role that banks play in providing payment-processing services to merchants that have been accused of charging customers for certain services, such as debt-relief programs, that have generated fraud complaints from consumers. PNC also said Monday that it is cooperating with ongoing investigations related to other subpoenas concerning mortgage-lending practices. The bank said Monday that it has received three subpoenas from prosecutors, including two from the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York regarding the practices of National City Bank, a Cleveland-based lender PNC acquired in 2008.
