09/20/2011
Citizens Financial Group commits to continue growing small business lending
Vice President Joe Biden announces banking industry commitment at Ohio headquarters of Charter One customer
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (September 20, 2011) Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (CFG) will continue increasing its lending to small businesses over the next three years, the bank announced today as part of an industry-wide commitment unveiled by Vice President Joe Biden at the Ohio headquarters of a CFG customer that banks with Charter One.
The announcement took place at the Solon, Ohio, headquarters of Wrap Tite, a growing provider of commercial packaging solutions that has secured Small Business Administration financing through Charter One.
"It's clear from our experience working with customers like Wrap Tite that businesses with good strategic plans are finding opportunities to grow, even in this challenging economy," said Ellen Alemany, Chairman and CEO of Citizens Financial Group. "This is very exciting, because smaller companies like Wrap Tite are so critical to job creation and to the overall prosperity of our local communities. We are pleased to participate in this SBA initiative, which we see as an important opportunity to highlight the lending activity that we and other banks are undertaking as smaller companies seek to grow their businesses and create jobs."
"Charter One and the SBA provided an important ingredient to our success," said Sunil Daga, co-owner of Wrap Tite. "We feel fortunate to have developed these partnerships at this stage of our development as a company."
Already this year, CFG has more than doubled its lending to businesses with annual revenues of $25 million or less over last year. For companies with revenues under $5 million, CFG delivered more commitments in June than it had in any single month dating back to 2007. The bank has been making significant investments in technology and staffing to respond to this increased demand.
About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is a $132 billion commercial bank holding company. It is headquartered in Providence, R.I., and, through its subsidiaries, has more than 1,500 branches, approximately 3,900 ATMs and more than 20,900 colleagues. Its two bank subsidiaries are RBS Citizens, N.A. and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. They operate a 12-state branch network under the Citizens Bank brand in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont, and the Charter One brand in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. CFG has non-branch retail and commercial offices in more than 30 states. CFG is owned by RBS (The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc).
