Type – Private
Founded 1828
Headquarters Providence, Rhode Island
Key people Ellen Alemany, CEO
Industry Finance
Products Financial Services
Employees 26,000
Parent Royal Bank of Scotland Group
Website citizensbank.com, charterone.com

History

Citizens was first established in 1828 as the High Street Bank in Providence, Rhode Island. The bank then expanded through Rhode Island, opening a total of 29 branches in that state. It was established as a holding company when the bank acquired The Greenville Trust Company in 1954. In 1985, Citizens changed status from a mutual savings bank to a federal stock savings bank. Expansion into other states began with Massachusetts in 1986.

In 1988, Citizens accepted a takeover bid from the Scottish based bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which used Citizens Bank as a stepping stone into the American market. In the following sixteen years under RBS ownership, Citizens acquired several smaller banks in the New England area to become the second largest bank in the region. In 1996, the acquisition of First NH Bank saw the Bank of Ireland gain a 23.5% stake in Citizens, which was repurchased two years later by RBS.

Citizens Financial Group And Recession

On April 18, 2008, RBS, the parent bank, revealed that it would post almost $8 Billion in losses related to sub-prime mortgage securities. Less than a month earlier its CEO, Sir Fred Goodwin, denied rumors that losses were possible.

In May 2008, Citizens Financial Group, an RBS subsidiary, failed to publicly announce that it was under investigation by the SEC for its involvement in the sub-prime mortgage crisis that has devastated the U.S. housing market and bond investors around the world. Only banks involved in the purchase and sale of subprime securities were under investigation.

Citizens Bank made widespread layoffs in 2009, and lost $114 million in the first quarter of 2009.

Products & Services

Like several other banks, Citizens has branches inside supermarkets, the most notable of which is with Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle, most of which were acquired in the acquisition of Mellon Financial Corporation’s retail banking division. There are also branches inside many Stop & Shop stores in New England. One unique aspect at Citizens branches inside supermarkets is full-service banking on Sunday, when banks are traditionally closed (including standalone Citizens branches), usually from 10 AM to 3 PM. This made Citizens one of the first banks in North America to operate on Sundays.

In addition, RBS purchased Lynk systems of Atlanta, Georgia to processes non-cash transactions (such as credit, debit, EBT, loyalty, gift, and check transactions) from merchant point-of-sale terminals, web sites, and ATMs. The company had been rebranded as RBS Lynk, and is now operating as RBS WorldPay.

In addition, Citizens is one of the first banks in America to use RFID technology on its ATM cards, via MasterCard PayPass. In late 2009, however, Citizens began reissuing their cards under Visa without the RFID technology.

On June 25, 2008 Citizens Bank announced it is selling 18 of its branches in upstate New York as it prepares to open 57 branches downstate. The branches will be sold to Community Bank System Inc. of DeWitt, NY.