10/29/2015

Citizens Financial Group Announces Secondary Common Stock Offering by RBS Group

RBS Expected to Exit its 20.9% Stake

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: CFG) today announced that The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (“RBS”), through a subsidiary, has launched a registered underwritten public offering to sell all of its remaining shares of CFG’s common stock (the “Offering”). CFG is not selling any shares and will not receive any of the proceeds from the Offering.

RBS plans to sell 110,461,782 CFG shares in the Offering. Completion of the Offering is expected to result in RBS’s complete exit of its ownership stake in CFG’s common stock. RBS has advised CFG that it expects its designee to resign from CFG’s Board of Directors upon the completion of the Offering.

Goldman, Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan are acting as the underwriters of the Offering.

The Offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement, including a prospectus, filed by CFG with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Before investing, investors should read the prospectus in that registration statement, the related prospectus supplement and other documents CFG has filed with the SEC for more complete information about CFG and the Offering. These documents may be obtained for free by visiting the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, copies of the prospectus and the related prospectus supplement, when available, may be obtained from Goldman, Sachs & Co., Attn: Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, telephone: 866-471-2526, facsimile: 212-902-9316, e-mail: [email protected]; BofA Merrill Lynch, 222 Broadway, New York, NY 10038, Attention: Prospectus Department or via email: [email protected]; Citigroup, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717 (Tel: 800-831-9146); and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, Attention: Prospectus Department, or by calling 866-803-9204.

This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $135.4 billion in assets as of September 30, 2015. 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. In Consumer Banking, Citizens helps its retail customers “bank better” with mobile and online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,200 ATMs and approximately 1,200 Citizens Bank branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. Citizens also provides mortgage lending, auto lending, student lending and commercial banking services in select markets nationwide. 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 hedging, leasing and asset finance, specialty finance and trade finance.

Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within 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” 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 filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on March 3, 2015.

CFG-IR

Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
Media:
Jim Hughes, 781-751-5404
or
Investors:
Ellen A. Taylor, 203-900-6854

Source: Citizens Financial Group, Inc.