Citizens Accelerates Wealth Management Business with Strategic Leadership Hires and Opening of New Citizens Private Banking Office

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02/08/2024 - 09:00 AM

Citizens welcomes industry veterans as new Head of Wealth Management Advisors and Head of Private Wealth Managers; Citizens Private Bank now open in Boston’s Back Bay

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: CFG) today unveiled a number of changes aimed at accelerating the growth of its Wealth Management and Private Banking business to serve the entire spectrum of wealth clients, from mass affluent to ultra-high net worth and family offices. The new strategy, highlighted by the hiring of two new executives in critical roles, will better position Citizens to achieve its ambitious goal of building a preeminent Private Banking and Wealth Management offering in the U.S. Further, Citizens has opened its first Private Banking office in Boston and has plans to open additional offices in 2024, including one in Palm Beach, Fla. and Mill Valley, Calif. in the spring.

On the heels of launching its new Private Bank and hiring about 200 bankers in 2023, Citizens bolstered its wealth leadership team with the addition of Michael Cherny as Head of Citizens Wealth Management Advisors and Tom Metzger as Head of Citizens Private Wealth Managers.

“With the bank failures of 2023, it is clear that significant white space exists in the market for a new entrant to fill by delivering best-in-market customer service for Private Banking and Wealth Management clients,” said Brendan Coughlin, Vice Chair and Head of Consumer Banking at Citizens. “Hiring these two high quality executives demonstrates the strength of Private Banking and Wealth Management talent that we have been able to attract to Citizens. The launch of our new branding and addition of our new Private Banking offices will help them deliver the extraordinary service their clients have come to expect.”

Cherny will be responsible for retaining and growing mass affluent and affluent client relationships across the U.S. A seasoned financial services leader with a proven track record of scaling wealth management organizations, Cherny previously served as a Managing Director in Wealth at JPMorgan Chase. There, he led one of the bank’s largest regions consisting of $60 billion in investment and deposit balances.

Metzger will recruit and lead a new team of Private Wealth managers targeting new-to-bank clients in key geographies across the U.S. A 17-year industry veteran with deep experience leading national recruiting efforts, Metzger had a long career at Wells Fargo and a recent stop at First Republic Bank where he served as Head of Wealth Manager Recruiting.

These new hires are another key milestone for Citizens following the national launch of Citizens Private Bank in the fall of 2023, which raised over $1.2 billion in deposits by the end of 2023, a testament to differentiated market positioning and client trust. Citizens continues to invest strategically in its Private Bank. All of Citizens new Private Banking offices will offer freshly-baked cookies and signature branded umbrellas to clients at its local offices as symbols of extraordinary service. Citizens Private Bankers are committed to being a single point of contact for clients looking to preserve and grow their wealth. Learn more at www.citizensbank.com/private-banking/overview.

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $222.0 billion in assets as of December 31, 2023. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. Citizens helps its customers reach their potential by listening to them and by understanding their needs to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens provides an integrated experience that includes mobile and online banking, a full-service customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,200 ATMs and approximately 1,100 branches in 14 states and the District of Columbia. Consumer Banking products and services include a full range of banking, lending, savings, wealth management and small business offerings. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers a broad complement of financial products and solutions, including lending and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as well as loan syndication, corporate finance, merger and acquisition, and debt and equity capital markets capabilities. More information is available at www.citizensbank.com or visit us on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn or Facebook.

Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statement that does not describe historical or current facts is a forward-looking statement. These statements often include the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends,” “plans,” “goals,” “targets,” “initiatives,” “potentially,” “probably,” “projects,” “outlook,” “hopeful,” “guidance” or similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” and “could.” Forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of management, and on information currently available to management. Our statements speak as of the date hereof, and we do not assume any obligation to update these statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those contained in such statements in light of new information or future events. We caution you, therefore, against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. They are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees or assurances of future performance. More information about factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found under “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.