Dec 9 (Reuters) - PNC Financial CEO Bill Demchak

pushed back on industry speculation that he was overly eager to

buy banks, laying out his criteria for any potential purchases.

"Every single financial metric we look at we're basically

bottom of our peer group this year. All because people think I

will do something stupid. So it's really frustrating," he told

investors on Tuesday at a conference.

Demchak also said share buybacks will be larger next year.

(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Lananh Nguyen in New York and

Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru)