Citizens hires 50 ex-First Republic private bankers

Kelvin Ma/Bloomberg

Citizens Financial Group has hired dozens of private bankers from the now-shuttered First Republic Bank — the latest step in an ongoing effort to build out its wealth management business.

The Providence, Rhode Island, bank added 50 senior private bankers and related support staff who previously worked at First Republic, which closed in May.

The hires expand the bank's wealth management business in Boston, Florida and New York and establish a presence in the San Francisco market, Citizens said in a press release.

The additions will also help the $222 billion-asset bank scale its commercial and business banking, retirement planning and investment management businesses, according to Citizens.

"These teams have a demonstrated track record of delivering a truly differentiated white glove client experience," Brendan Coughlin, vice chairman and head of consumer banking at Citizens, said in a statement.

First Republic, which collapsed this spring after a deposit run, had viewed wealth management as one of its core businesses.

After the San Francisco bank was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., many of its assets were sold to JPMorgan Chase, which described the acquisition as an opportunity to expand in wealth management.

But many financial advisors left First Republic even before the bank collapsed on May 1.

Citizens has been emphasizing wealth management as a potential avenue for growth in recent years.

In 2019, Citizens acquired Clarfeld Financial Advisors, which offered family office, investment, financial planning and tax and estate planning services. And last July, the bank purchased wealth management assets and liabilities from New Hampshire-based Paladin Advisors.

JPMorgan Chase gets First Republic's wealth clients. Can it keep them?

Citizens has also launched a new product targeting wealth management clients called Citizens Plus. And it's executing a market expansion strategy in the New York metropolitan region following its acquisition last year of Investors Bancorp.

During Citizens' most recent earnings call, CEO Bruce Van Saun described the outlook for the bank's wealth management business as "positive," and Coughlin said that Citizens Plus provided a "shot in the arm" for building client relationships.

During the first quarter, fee income from trust and investment services grew by 3% to $63 million.