Citizens' new wealth management office under construction in a former First Republic Bank branch location in Boston's Back Bay in November 2023. Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman Staff

During its fourth-quarter earnings call, Citizens executives announced that the company’s private bank has grown to $7 billion in deposits. 

“We were pleased to post solid performance in Q4 given strong execution of our key initiatives and nice improvement in our net interest margin,” said chairman and CEO Bruce Van Saun told investors. “Good sequential growth in revenues delivered a return to positive operating leverage, and our balance sheet remains strong with CET1 at 10.8 percent, LDR below 80 percent and credit metrics all trending favorably. Our private bank hit year end balances of $7 billion in deposits, $3.1 billion in loans, and $4.7 billion AUM, tracking very well to targets. I would like to thank our colleague base for their fine effort and dedication in continuing to serve our customers well and in positioning us for a strong 2025 and bright future.” 

The company has invested in this area, making multiple hires throughout  2024 and opening offices in Boston, Florida, and California. The investment has paid off as the company noted that the private bank was profitable in the fourth quarter.

“We are confident in our ability to meet or exceed our goal of having this business be 5 percent accretive to our bottom line in 2025,” Van Saun said. “We added a banking team to Southern California in Q4 and we announced an additional wealth team in South Florida.”

Chief financial officer John Woods noted that Citizens is on track to either meet or exceed that goal.

The growth of the private bank has helped offset some reductions in lending in other areas of the bank. Citizens reported that loans in its main bank were down 1.7 percent from the third quarter of 2024 but private bank loans increased by $1.1 billion to $3.1 billion.

Woods noted that Citizens is targeting to reach $12 billion in private bank deposits and $11 billion in assets under management this year.

Citizens Private Bank Hits $7B in Deposits

by Sam Minton time to read: 1 min
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