PNC Financial Services Group Inc. will provide in-store branches and ATMs to Giant supermarkets throughout Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C., PNC announced today.

The 10-year exclusive agreement with Giant Food LLC, Landover, Md., calls for 41 new in-store PNC branches and 180 ATMs to be in place in 2009. The Giant deal will create new 225 jobs at PNC.

PNC replaces Chevy Chase Bank in Giant Food stores. This summer Giant began closing the 54 in-store branches of Chevy Chase Bank after a 10-year contract expired in August.

The decision to end the Chevy Chase deal was made because customers showed a preference for larger, traditional bank branches, said W. Scott McSween, Chevy Chase Bank’s executive vice president for its Retail Banking Division, told Supermarket News. He noted that in-store branches are viable channels for other institutions.

“Chevy Chase Bank has the largest branch and ATM networks in the greater Washington market,” McSween said in the interview. “While our branches inside Giant Food stores are convenient, we are confident that we are able to provide our customers with the banking convenience they want and the personal service they need through our extensive network of traditional neighborhood branches. We have invested significantly in new branches in this marketplace over the years and plan to continue to open new branches to ensure that we have convenient options for our customers.”

Giant Food operates 183 supermarkets and employs approximately 21,000.

News of the PNC deal was reported by the Pittsburgh Business Times.