# Citizens Financial Group (CFG)

Citizens Financial Group (CFG) is a Bank / Wealth / Trust based in Providence, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Bank / Wealth / Trust
- **Headquarters:** Providence, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Providence, RI, United States
- **Founded:** 1828
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** citizensbank.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/rbs-citizens-financial-group

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Citizens traces its lineage to High Street Bank in Providence, chartered in 1828, making it one of the 15 oldest financial institutions in the United States. The modern entity took shape under Royal Bank of Scotland's ownership from 1988 until its 2014 IPO, when Bruce Van Saun — the former RBS CFO dispatched to restructure the American unit — engineered the separation and became the standalone bank's CEO. Today it is the 14th-largest US retail bank by assets, headquartered in Providence with major hubs in Boston and New York. The wealth and institutional businesses sit inside a broader $220 billion-asset bank that runs three coordinated engines: a commercial banking division that serves middle-market corporates and financial sponsors, a private bank targeting high-net-worth individuals and family offices, and an M&A advisory practice built through the 2021 acquisitions of JMP Group and DH Capital. The sponsor coverage group is particularly active in leveraged lending, asset-based finance, and treasury services that support portfolio companies of GPs like Audax and Berkshire Partners. On the direct-investing side, Citizens deploys proprietary capital into middle-market private equity co-investments, with disclosed positions including Cetera Financial Group and various healthcare-services platforms formed alongside sponsor partners. The wealth management arm carries roughly $50 billion in client assets, offering trustee services, estate planning, and investment management to individuals and multi-generational families concentrated in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. In January 2024, Citizens promoted Michael Cherny to lead a newly combined Wealth Management and Advisory division, signaling intent to cross-sell M&A, capital markets, and trust services to the same entrepreneurial client base (per the firm, January 2024). What differentiates Citizens structurally is the interplay between a regional deposit franchise and an institutional-grade capital-markets capability that other regionals have not replicated at scale. The bank holds roughly $160 billion in deposits that fund a balance sheet used both for traditional lending and for co-investing alongside private-equity sponsors — effectively running a proprietary investment program inside a regulated bank charter, a posture closer to a mid-tier universal bank than a conventional super-regional.

## Sectors

- Financial Services

## Offices

- Boston, MA
- New York, NY

## People

- Bruce Van Saun — Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

## Questions

### How does Citizens source direct-investment deal flow for its balance sheet?

The bank accesses proprietary deal flow through its commercial banking sponsor coverage group, which provides senior debt, asset-based lending, and treasury services to roughly 450 private-equity firms. When a sponsor-led transaction needs co-investment equity alongside the GP's fund, Citizens can commit directly from its corporate balance sheet. Cross-referrals from the M&A advisory team — built through the 2021 acquisitions of JMP Group and DH Capital — generate additional sourcing into healthcare, technology, and financial-services sectors.

### What is the relationship between Citizens Bank's consumer deposits and its institutional co-investment activity?

Citizens is funded by approximately $160 billion in mostly FDIC-insured consumer and commercial deposits. A portion of that low-cost deposit base funds the bank's participation in middle-market leveraged loans and private-equity co-investments — a model that allows Citizens to act as both a senior secured lender and an equity co-investor in the same sponsor-led transaction. This dual-lender-and-co-investor posture is structurally similar to how certain Canadian banks operate, though less common among US regionals at Citizens' scale.

### How is the private bank positioned post the January 2024 wealth-management integration?

In January 2024, Citizens appointed Michael Cherny — who had led the M&A advisory business since the JMP acquisition — to head a combined Wealth Management and Advisory division. The reorganization puts investment bankers who originate corporate M&A mandates in the same reporting line as private bankers serving family-office clients, with the stated goal of offering a single relationship covering a founder's business exit, personal wealth structuring, trust and estate planning, and ongoing institutional-quality asset management (per the firm, January 2024).

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Updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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