Only the biggest and soundest of the US regional banks were able to come through the wreckage of March 2023 unbowed. None did so better than Citizens, a bank that was already consolidating two fine strategic moves at the start of the awards period and was able to consider another at its end. It wins the award for the country’s best super-regional bank.
The bank’s financial performance has once again been strong, with revenues rising 28% year on year in the awards period, while adjusted pre-provision pre-tax profits are up 44%.
Assets have risen substantially, up 16%, mostly on the back of the acquisition of the East Coast branches of HSBC and then New Jersey-based Investors Bancorp, which completed in early April 2022. Deposits rose 8% over the awards period and loans were up 18%.
The bank’s valuation, however, followed a different path, its market capitalization fell 23% over the review period, which ended in the midst of the US regional banking crisis.
Along