05/14/2018

Citizens Financial Group to Launch Citizens Access, a Nationwide Direct-to-Consumer Digital Platform

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: CFG) today announced plans to launch Citizens Access, a nationwide direct-to-consumer digital platform, offering FDIC-insured deposit products to serve an increasing number of savers who value the flexibility and convenience of an online offering. Citizens Access plans to provide this growing customer segment a digital deposit offering with attractive rates and in a lower cost format to help them save for the future in a simple and secure way. The Citizens Access platform, which will be unveiled early in the third quarter, will be available to consumers throughout the United States.

“The planned launch of Citizens Access represents a step forward for Citizens as we seek to expand our distribution to meet consumer needs,” said John Woods, Citizens Chief Financial Officer. “Sourcing deposits nationwide is a perfect complement to our attractive retail lending initiatives, such as education refinance, merchant finance and home equity. We expect Citizens Access to further diversify our funding sources by targeting savers who often choose to add digital-only offerings to their existing retail banking relationship and are actively seeking online alternative savings solutions.”

“We believe that Citizens Access will provide digitally-savvy savers with a winning combination of simplicity, security and attractive rates,” said Brad Conner, Citizens vice chairman and Head of Consumer Banking. “Over the past several years, we have invested heavily in data and analytics to better understand and react to customer needs, and we are excited to engage with them in one of our industry’s fastest growing deposit channels. Over time we believe this will better position the bank to further innovate, acquire new customers and deliver expanded digital capabilities. We look forward to providing an exceptional customer experience through this digital platform as we continue to help customers reach their potential.”

Added Woods: “We are proud to say that the development of this platform has been funded by efficiencies realized through our continuous improvement initiatives and, with the benefit of an all-digital infrastructure, we expect that it will quickly achieve scale and contribute to improving returns.”

The launch of Citizens Access was included in CFG’s previous commentary on its 2018 financial outlook and statements regarding deposit betas.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains forward-looking statements within the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements regarding potential future share repurchases and future dividends are forward-looking statements. Also, 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” or similar expressions or future 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. While there is no assurance that any list of risks and uncertainties or risk factors is complete, important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include the following, without limitation:

  • Negative economic and political conditions that adversely affect the general economy, housing prices, the job market, consumer confidence and spending habits which may affect, among other things, the level of nonperforming assets, charge-offs and provision expense;
  • The rate of growth in the economy and employment levels, as well as general business and economic conditions, and changes in the competitive environment;
  • Our ability to implement our business strategy, including the cost savings and efficiency components, and achieve our financial performance goals;
  • Our ability to meet heightened supervisory requirements and expectations;
  • Liabilities and business restrictions resulting from litigation and regulatory investigations;
  • Our capital and liquidity requirements (including under regulatory capital standards, such as the U.S. Basel III capital rules) and our ability to generate capital internally or raise capital on favorable terms;
  • The effect of changes in interest rates on our net interest income, net interest margin and our mortgage originations, mortgage servicing rights and mortgages held for sale;
  • Changes in interest rates and market liquidity, as well as the magnitude of such changes, which may reduce interest margins, impact funding sources and affect the ability to originate and distribute financial products in the primary and secondary markets;
  • The effect of changes in the level of checking or savings account deposits on our funding costs and net interest margin;
  • Financial services reform and other current, pending or future legislation or regulation that could have a negative effect on our revenue and businesses, including the Dodd-Frank Act and other legislation and regulation relating to bank products and services;
  • A failure in or breach of our operational or security systems or infrastructure, or those of our third party vendors or other service providers, including as a result of cyber-attacks; and
  • Management’s ability to identify and manage these and other risks.

In addition to the above factors, we also caution that the amount and timing of any future common stock dividends or share repurchases will depend on our financial condition, earnings, cash needs, regulatory constraints, capital requirements (including requirements of our subsidiaries), and any other factors that our Board of Directors deems relevant in making such a determination. Therefore, there can be no assurance that we will repurchase shares or pay any dividends to holders of our common stock, or as to the amount of any such repurchases or dividends.

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, 2017.

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $153.5 billion in assets as of March 31, 2018. 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 in order to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens provides an integrated experience that includes mobile and online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,300 ATMs and approximately 1,150 branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. Consumer Banking products and services include a full range of banking, lending, savings, wealth management and small business offerings. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers corporate, institutional and not-for-profit clients a full range of wholesale banking products and services, including lending and deposits, capital markets, treasury services, foreign exchange and interest rate products, and asset finance. More information is available at www.citizensbank.com or visit us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

CFG-IR

Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
Media:
Peter Lucht, 781-655-2289
or
Investors:
Ellen A. Taylor, 203-900-6854

Source: Citizens Financial Group, Inc.