Bruce Van Saun, CEO of Citizens Financial Group
Courtesy of Citizens Financial Group
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Citizens Financial Group
is getting bigger, in large part due to the vision of CEO Bruce Van Saun.
In the past two years, the Providence, R.I.–based bank, with assets of $192 billion, has taken steps to grow its geographical footprint and diversify its service offerings.
It has invested not only in acquisitions—of Investors Bancorp, JMP Group, and the East Coast retail operations of HSBC—but also in 550 software engineers, hired to help Citizens Financial develop systems that will enable it to compete with larger, more tech-savvy peers.
“A bank our size needs to be selective and prioritize areas where we think we have a right to win,” says Van Saun. He cites wealth management and middle-market financing as two areas of focus.
Van Saun, 65, has had a long career in financial services. He joined Citizens Financial in 2013 and led the bank’s initial public offering the following year. He is a director of
Moody’s
and sits on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
He is optimistic these days about the U.S. economy and the health of the banking sector. “If we do have a recession, my guess is that it will be fairly shallow and not really destructive in the way we’ve seen some in the past,” he says.
“We don’t see any signs of problem loans building up. In fact, it’s the best of times in terms of corporate and consumer credit,” Van Saun says.
Write to Carleton English at carleton.english@dowjones.com
