Item 1. BUSINESS

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. We offer a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. Our products and services are offered through more than 1,100 branches in 14 states and the District of Columbia and 123 retail and commercial non-branch offices, though certain lines of business serve national markets. At December 31, 2022, we had total assets of $226.7 billion, total deposits of $180.7 billion and total stockholders’ equity of $23.7 billion.

We are a BHC incorporated under Delaware state law in 1984 and our primary federal regulator is the FRB. CBNA is our banking subsidiary, whose primary federal regulator is the OCC.

Business Segments

We manage our business through two business segments: Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking. For additional information regarding our business segments see the “Business Operating Segments” section of Item 7 and Note 26 in Item 8. Our activities outside these segments are classified as “Other” and include treasury activities, wholesale funding activities, the securities portfolio, community development assets, and other unallocated assets, liabilities, capital, revenues, provision for credit losses and expenses, including income tax expense.

Consumer Banking Segment

Consumer Banking serves retail customers and small businesses with annual revenues of up to $25 million, with products and services that include deposit products, mortgage and home equity lending, credit cards, business loans, wealth management and investment services largely across our 14-state traditional banking footprint. We also offer auto, education and point-of-sale finance loans in addition to select digital deposit products nationwide.

Consumer Banking operates a multi-channel distribution network with a workforce of approximately 5,780 branch colleagues, approximately 1,100 branches, including 220 in-store locations, and approximately 3,400 ATMs. Our network includes approximately 1,250 specialists covering lending, savings and investment needs as well as a broad range of small business products and services. We serve customers on a national basis through telephone service centers as well as through our online and mobile platforms where we offer customers the convenience of depositing funds, paying bills and transferring money between accounts and from person to person, as well as a host of other everyday transactions.

Commercial Banking Segment

Commercial Banking primarily serves companies and institutions with annual revenues of over $25 million to more than $3.0 billion and strives to be our clients’ trusted advisor and preferred provider for their banking needs. We offer a broad complement of financial products and solutions, including lending and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as well as syndicated loans, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and debt and equity capital markets capabilities.

Commercial Banking is structured along business lines and product groups. The business lines, Corporate Banking and Commercial Real Estate, and the product groups, Corporate Finance & Capital Markets, and Treasury Solutions work in teams to understand client needs and provide comprehensive solutions to meet those needs. We acquire new clients through a coordinated approach to the market, leveraging deep industry knowledge in specialized banking groups and a geographic coverage model.

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Corporate Banking serves middle market commercial and industrial clients with annual gross revenues of $25 million to $500 million, and mid-corporate clients with annual revenues of $500 million to more than $3.0 billion in the United States. In several areas, such as Aerospace, Defense and Government Services, Communications, Transportation and Logistics, Franchise, Human Capital Management, and Gaming we offer a more dedicated and tailored approach to better meet the unique needs of these client segments.

Commercial Real Estate provides customized debt capital solutions for middle market operators, institutional developers, investors, and REITs. Commercial Real Estate provides financing for projects primarily in the multi-family, co-op, office, industrial, retail, healthcare and hospitality sectors.

Corporate Finance & Capital Markets serves clients through key product groups including Corporate Finance, Capital Markets, and Global Markets. Corporate Finance provides advisory services to middle market and mid-corporate clients, including mergers and acquisitions and capital structure advice. The team works closely with industry-sector specialists within capital markets to advise our clients. Corporate Finance also provides acquisition and follow-on financing for new and recapitalized portfolio companies of key sponsors, with services meeting the unique and time-sensitive needs of private equity firms, management companies and funds, and underwriting and portfolio management expertise for leveraged transactions and relationships. Capital Markets originates, structures and underwrites credit and equity facilities targeting middle market, mid-corporate and private equity sponsors. They focus on offering value-added ideas to optimize their capital structures, including advising on and facilitating mergers and acquisitions, valuations, tender offers, financial restructurings, bond and equity underwriting, asset sales, divestitures and other corporate reorganizations and business combinations. Capital Markets also provides sales and trading across loan, fixed income and equity products, as well as other brokerage services including equity research. Global Markets provides foreign exchange, interest rate and commodities risk management services.

The Treasury Solutions product group supports Commercial Banking and certain small business clients with treasury management solutions, including domestic and international products and services related to receivables, payables, information reporting and liquidity management, as well as commercial credit cards and trade finance.

Business Strategy

Our mission is to help our customers, colleagues and communities reach their potential, and our vision is to become a top-performing bank distinguished by our customer-centric culture, mindset of continuous improvement, and excellent capabilities. We strive to understand customer and client needs, so we can tailor advice and solutions to help make them more successful. Our business strategy is designed to maximize the full potential of our businesses, drive sustainable growth and enhance profitability. Our success rests on our ability to distinguish ourselves as follows:

Maintain a high-performing, customer-centric organization: We continually strive to enhance our “customer-first” culture by emphasizing the “voice of the customer” to deliver the best possible banking experience. In addition, we are taking talent management to the next level, with a goal of attracting, developing and retaining great people, while ensuring strong leadership, teamwork, and a sense of empowerment, accountability and urgency.

Develop differentiated value propositions to acquire, deepen, and retain core customer segments: Our focus is on select customer segments where we believe we are well positioned to compete. In Consumer Banking, we focus on serving mass affluent and affluent customers, and small businesses customers nationally. In Commercial Banking, we focus on serving customers in the middle market, mid-corporate, and select industry verticals. By developing differentiated and targeted value propositions, building our fee-based businesses and developing innovative solutions, we believe we can attract new customers, deepen relationships with existing customers and deliver an enhanced customer experience. We are integrating recent transactions in the NYC Metro market area and are improving the productivity of those acquired branches and deepening relationships with those customers.

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Build excellent capabilities designed to help us stand out from competitors: We strive to deliver seamless, multi-channel experiences that allow customers to interact with us when, where and how they choose. We are enhancing capabilities in key areas including consumer lending, wealth, capital markets and payments. We are on a multi-year digital transformation journey across our Consumer and Commercial organizations to digitize end-to-end customer experiences and transform our marketing to drive consumer-direct acquisition in order to satisfy rapidly changing customer preferences. We are accelerating the use of advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence for personalization and to provide timely, insight-driven, tailored advice in order to deliver solutions to consumer and business customers throughout their lifecycles.

Operate with financial discipline and a mindset of continuous improvement to self-fund investments: We believe that continued focus on operational efficiency is critical to our future profitability and ability to continue to reinvest to drive future growth. We launched the first Tapping our Potential (“TOP”) initiative in 2014 and have launched additional programs in subsequent years. These programs are designed to transform how we operate and to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and competitiveness of our franchise. Our TOP 7 program was completed in 2022, and we are launching a TOP 8 program to allow us to continue to self-fund investments.

Prudently grow and optimize our balance sheet: We operate with a strong balance sheet with regard to capital and liquidity, coupled with a well-defined and prudent risk appetite. We continue to focus on thoughtfully growing our balance sheet by actively managing capital and resource allocations towards relationships-oriented growth to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns. Our goal is to be good stewards of our resources and continue to rigorously evaluate our execution.

Modernize our technology and operational models to improve delivery, organizational agility and speed to market: We are continuing to modernize our technology environment by strengthening our infrastructure and migrating applications to the cloud. We have deployed and scaled an agile operating model to improve our speed-to-market, deliver innovative products and services and strengthen collaboration across teams. We will also continue to actively incubate new innovative ideas and harness external innovation through FinTech partnerships to help deliver differentiated value-added experiences for our customers.

Embed risk management within our culture and operations: Given that the quality of our risk management program directly affects our ability to execute our strategy, we continue to work to further strengthen our risk management culture. Moreover, we are committed to continuously enhancing our processes and talent, and to making improvements in the platform including ongoing investments in risk technology and frameworks. These actions are designed to support and enhance our risk management capabilities and regulatory profile.

Competition

The financial services industry is highly competitive. Our branch footprint is predominantly in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions, though certain lines of business serve national markets. Within these markets we face competition from community banks, super-regional and national financial institutions, credit unions, savings and loan associations, mortgage banking firms, consumer finance companies, securities brokerage firms, insurance companies, money market funds, hedge funds and private equity firms. Some of our larger competitors may make available to their customers a broader array of products, pricing and structure alternatives while some smaller competitors may have more liberal lending policies and processes. Competition among providers of financial products and services continues to increase, with consumers having the opportunity to select from a growing variety of traditional and nontraditional alternatives. The ability of non-banking financial institutions, including FinTech companies, to provide services previously limited to commercial banks has also intensified competition.

In Consumer Banking, the industry has become increasingly dependent on and oriented toward technology-driven delivery systems, permitting transactions to be conducted through telephone, online and mobile channels. In addition, technology has lowered barriers to entry and made it possible for non-bank institutions to attract funds and provide lending and other financial products and services. The emergence of digital-only banking models has increased and we expect this trend to continue. Given their lower cost structure, these models are often, on average, able to offer higher rates on deposit products than retail banking institutions with a traditional branch footprint. The primary factors driving competition for loans and deposits are interest rates, fees charged, tailored value propositions to different customer segments, customer service levels, convenience, including branch locations and hours of operation, and the range of products and services offered.

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In Commercial Banking, there is competition for quality loan originations from traditional banking institutions, particularly large regional banks, as well as commercial finance companies, leasing companies, other non-bank lenders, and institutional investors including collateralized loan obligation managers, hedge funds and private equity firms. Some larger competitors, including certain national banks that compete in our market area, may offer a broader array of products and, due to their asset size, may sometimes be in a position to hold more exposure on their balance sheet. We compete on a number of factors including providing innovative corporate finance solutions, quality of customer service and execution, range of products offered, price and reputation.

Human Capital Management

We believe that our long-term success depends on our ability to attract, develop, and retain a high-performing workforce. Our goal is to create an environment where colleagues can thrive personally and professionally and can maximize their potential. As of December 31, 2022, Citizens and its subsidiaries had 18,889 full-time equivalent employees, primarily across New England and the Mid-Atlantic. Our Board of Directors and the Compensation and Human Resources Committee are responsible for overseeing our human capital management strategy, with senior management providing regular updates to facilitate that oversight.

Leadership, Talent Development, and Talent Acquisition and Mobility

Our leaders are the catalysts to achieve the culture we want to foster. During 2022, we conducted a detailed assessment of the current state of our culture and leadership to inform future areas of focus. As we continue to prepare colleagues for the future, we are building capabilities by upskilling and reskilling colleagues to support new ways of working and operating models. We offer programs that include technical and skills-based programs as well as resources aligned with our leadership competencies. To deepen critical skills, we have expanded our learning academies focusing on Innovation, Agile, Next Gen Tech, Banking and Credit, and Data & Analytics. Through our development programs, we aim to equip colleagues with the skills necessary to excel in their current roles and to build competencies that will enable them to be highly valuable contributors in the future. Our culture is one of continuous learning, which we believe is crucial for colleagues to thrive as part of our organization and to feel a sense of accomplishment and purpose.

We continue to expand recruiting efforts across the different levels of the organization, with the goal of building a strong pipeline of future leaders. This includes strengthening opportunities for internal mobility within Citizens through rotational programs and our academies, as well as external partnerships to support our ability to hire critical talent in areas such as technology, digital, cyber, marketing and data.

Employee Engagement

As part of our ongoing efforts to develop a high performing workforce and make Citizens a great place to work and build a career, we have used McKinsey & Company’s Organizational Health Index (“OHI”) since our 2014 initial public offering to understand colleagues’ viewpoints about Citizens on a range of topics. OHI results are used to refine our focus, address gaps, and strengthen efforts to improve our organizational effectiveness and colleague experience. Since our inaugural survey, our overall OHI score has increased nearly 20 points to 77 in 2022 and is now within the first quartile of McKinsey’s global benchmarks. The results of our OHI surveys have been instrumental in helping management prioritize areas of change that are most important to colleagues. In 2023, we are transitioning to a new listening platform, which will include a colleague survey tool aimed at providing additional insights as we continue to evolve our strategy and culture.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We foster a culture where all stakeholders feel respected, valued, and heard. Our DE&I strategy is focused on creating an environment of inclusion and belonging, building a more diverse workforce and evaluating the effectiveness of our initiatives.

We are committed to increasing the representation of women and people of color, particularly in leadership roles. To that end, we have continued to develop strong partnerships with business and community organizations to help identify qualified diverse candidates for roles within every segment of our organization. In addition, through our diverse hiring commitment, we aim to have at least 50% of candidates interviewed for mid-to-senior openings be women or people of color. Internal diversity scorecards are used to measure our progress across multiple DE&I metrics. As of December 31, 2022, approximately 58% of our colleagues were women and approximately 32% were people of color. In addition, approximately 31% of the members of our Board of Directors are women and approximately 15% are people of color. More detail regarding our workforce demographics can be found on our website and in our Corporate Responsibility Report.

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Development programs are designed to build a strong pipeline of diverse emerging talent internally. Development efforts have been effective in increasing the number of women and people of color considered “ready now” succession candidates. We also partner with external organizations to offer additional resources for reskilling and upskilling diverse colleagues. We also offer education programs focused on embedding inclusive behaviors in our culture to all colleagues. We require all colleagues to attend inclusion training and there is additional targeted inclusion training specifically for colleagues in manager roles.

We use various resources to understand what drives a sense of inclusion and belonging and to identify what actions will be effective in attracting and retaining diverse colleagues. Analytics are used to help prioritize initiatives, including answers to OHI survey items, which we segment by various colleague populations to provide additional insights. In addition, we have seven business resource groups (“BRGs”), which are an extension of the business and are integral to identifying and formulating solutions to DE&I issues that are most important to customers, colleagues, and the community. Citizens BRGs include Citizens WIN (Women’s Impact Network), Citizens Elev8 (Rising Professionals), Prism (Multicultural), Citizens Pride (LGBTQ+), Citizens Veterans, and Citizens Awake (Disability Awareness). In 2023, we launched an additional BRG, Caring for Citizens (Caregivers). Each BRG is sponsored by a member of the executive team and, as of December 31, 2022, approximately 3,200 colleagues belonged to at least one BRG.

Health, Well-Being, and Workplace Flexibility

We prioritize the health and well-being of our colleagues and their loved ones. Our benefit programs are designed to support colleagues’ physical, mental, and financial well-being and we have added several resources in recent years, including additional mental and emotional health resources and emergency back-up child and adult care. We also recently enhanced our Parental Leave Policy to six weeks of paid time off for all permanent colleagues who become parents; birth mothers are eligible for an additional 10 weeks, for a total of 16 weeks. We added an ESG fund to our 401(k) plan investment options and there were no increases to colleague premiums, co-pays or deductibles for medical, dental, and vision coverage for 2023 in recognition of the impact of inflation on colleagues.

We implemented a return to office strategy which incorporates flexibility for colleagues. As part of that strategy, non-branch roles have been assigned to various categories including fully remote, hybrid, or fully in the office, based on the responsibilities of each role. This approach has allowed us to balance colleague flexibility with in-person collaboration, which we believe is key to maintaining our Company values and culture.

Fair and Equitable Compensation

We strive to compensate our colleagues fairly based on market data, experience, and performance, and we compare our compensation to other companies in our peer group as well as others in the financial services industry.

Part of our commitment to building and fostering a diverse, inclusive, high-performing culture includes ensuring our compensation and benefits are fair and competitive for all colleagues. We engage an independent third-party expert firm to conduct an annual pay equity analysis, accounting for factors that appropriately explain differences in pay such as performance and experience. Additional information about this analysis, including our most recent results, can be found on our website and in our Corporate Responsibility Report.

Environmental, Social and Governance

Investors have begun to consider how corporations are addressing ESG matters when making investment decisions. Specifically, certain investors are beginning to incorporate the business risks of climate change and the adequacy of a company’s response to climate change as part of their investment strategy.

In 2021, we announced targets to reduce our Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2025 and 50% by 2035, based on our 2016 baseline. These reductions align with the recommendations of the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit average global temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.

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In 2022, we published our fifth annual Corporate Responsibility Report and completed the CDP’s Climate Change Questionnaire for the seventh time. We also issued our inaugural Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD”) report and expanded our climate commitment by:

• joining the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (“PCAF”), a collaboration among worldwide financial institutions working to develop and implement a harmonized approach to assess and disclose greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions associated with loans and investments;

• participating in the Risk Management Association Climate Risk Consortium, a financial industry group dedicated to advancing best practices in climate risk management; and

• entering into a virtual power purchase agreement with Ørsted, supporting the construction of the Sunflower Wind Project in Kansas, which will offset 100% of our power consumption across our entire operational footprint with renewable energy credits.

For more details regarding ESG and other corporate responsibility matters, go to our website.

Regulation and Supervision

Our operations are subject to extensive regulation, supervision and examination under federal and state laws and regulations. These laws and regulations cover all aspects of our business, including lending practices, deposit insurance, customer privacy and cybersecurity, capital adequacy and planning, liquidity, safety and soundness, consumer protection and disclosure, permissible activities and investments, and certain transactions with affiliates. These laws and regulations are intended primarily for the protection of depositors, the Deposit Insurance Fund and the banking system as a whole and not for the protection of shareholders or other investors. The discussion below outlines the material elements of selected laws and regulations applicable to us and our subsidiaries. Changes in applicable law or regulation, and in their interpretation and application by regulatory agencies and other governmental authorities, cannot be predicted, but may have a material effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We are subject to examinations by federal banking regulators, as well as the SEC, FINRA and various state insurance and securities regulators. In some cases, regulatory agencies may take supervisory actions that may not be publicly disclosed, and such actions may restrict or limit our activities or activities of our subsidiaries. As part of our regular examination process, regulators may advise us to operate under various restrictions as a prudential matter. We have periodically received requests for information from regulatory authorities at the federal and state level, including from banking, securities and insurance regulators, state attorneys general, federal agencies or law enforcement authorities, and other regulatory authorities, concerning our business practices. Such requests are considered incidental to the normal conduct of business. For a further discussion of how regulatory actions may impact our business, see Item 1A “Risk Factors.” For additional information regarding regulatory matters, see Note 25 in Item 8.

Overview

We are a BHC under the Bank Holding Company Act. We have elected to be treated as a FHC under amendments to the Bank Holding Company Act as effected by GLBA. As such, we are subject to the supervision, examination and reporting requirements of the Bank Holding Company Act and the regulations of the FRB, including through the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Under the system of “functional regulation” established under the Bank Holding Company Act, the FRB serves as the primary regulator of our consolidated organization. The OCC serves as the primary regulator for CBNA and the SEC serves as the primary regulator of our broker-dealer and investment advisory subsidiaries, with each supervisory agency directly regulating the activities of those subsidiaries, and the FRB exercising a supervisory role.

The federal banking regulators have authority to approve or disapprove mergers, acquisitions, consolidations, the establishment of branches and similar corporate actions. These banking regulators also have the power to prevent the continuance or development of unsafe or unsound banking practices or other violations of law. Federal law governs the activities in which CBNA engages, including the investments it makes and the aggregate amount of available credit that it may grant to one borrower. Various consumer and compliance laws and regulations also affect its operations. The actions the FRB takes to implement monetary policy also affect us.

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In addition, CBNA is subject to regulation, supervision and examination by the CFPB with respect to consumer protection laws and regulations. The CFPB has broad authority to regulate the offering and provision of consumer financial products by depository institutions, such as CBNA, with more than $10 billion in total assets. The CFPB may promulgate rules under a variety of consumer financial protection statutes, including the Truth in Lending Act, the Electronic Funds Transfer Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

Tailoring of Prudential Requirements

The FRB and the other federal banking regulators have enacted rules that tailor the application of the enhanced prudential standards to BHCs and depository institutions to implement the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act of 2018 amendments to the Dodd-Frank Act (“Tailoring Rules”). Under the Tailoring Rules, we are subject to “Category IV standards,” which apply to banking organizations with at least $100 billion in total consolidated assets that do not meet any of the thresholds specified for Categories I through III.

We discuss other elements of the Tailoring Rules where relevant below. The liquidity requirements are described below under “—Liquidity Requirements,” and the stress testing requirements are described below under “—Capital Planning and Stress Testing Requirements.”

Bank and Financial Holding Company Regulation

As a FHC, we may engage in a broader range of activities than a BHC that is not also a FHC. These activities include securities underwriting and dealing, insurance underwriting and brokerage, merchant banking and other activities that are determined by the FRB, in coordination with the Treasury Department, to be “financial in nature or incidental thereto” or that the FRB determines unilaterally to be “complementary” to financial activities. In addition, a FHC may commence new permissible financial activities or acquire non-bank financial companies engaged in such activities, in either case, with after-the-fact notice to the FRB.

To maintain our FHC status, a BHC (and all of its depository institution subsidiaries), must remain “well capitalized” and “well managed,” as described below under “Federal Deposit Insurance Act”. If a BHC fails to meet these regulatory standards, the FRB could place limitations on its ability to conduct the broader financial activities permissible for FHCs or impose limitations or conditions on the conduct or activities of the BHC or its affiliates. If the deficiencies persisted, the FRB could order the BHC to divest any subsidiary bank or to cease engaging in any activities permissible for FHCs that are not permissible for BHCs, or the BHC could elect to conform its non-banking activities to those permissible for a BHC that is not also a FHC. In addition, the CRA requires U.S. banks to help serve the needs of their communities. If a depository institution subsidiary of a BHC were to receive a CRA rating of less than “satisfactory”, the BHC would be prohibited from engaging in certain activities or acquisitions (see “Community Reinvestment Act” below).

Federal and state laws impose notice and approval requirements for mergers and acquisitions of other depository institutions or BHCs. As noted above, FRB approval is generally not required for us to acquire a company engaged in activities that are financial in nature or incidental to activities that are financial in nature, as determined by the FRB. Prior regulatory approval is required, however, before we may acquire or control more than 5% of any class of voting shares or substantially all of the assets of a BHC (including a FHC) or a bank. In considering applications for approval of acquisitions, the banking regulators may take several factors into account, including the competitive effects of the transaction in the relevant geographic markets; the financial and managerial resources and future prospects of companies involved in the transaction; the effect of the transaction on the financial stability of the U.S. banking or financial system; the companies’ compliance with anti-money laundering laws and regulations; the convenience and needs to the communities to be served; and the records of performance under the CRA of the insured depository institutions involved in the transaction.

Capital

The U.S. Basel III rules apply to us. These rules establish risk-based and leverage capital requirements. The risk-based requirements are based on a banking organization’s risk-weighted assets, also known as RWA, which reflect the organization’s on- and off-balance sheet exposures, subject to risk weights. The leverage requirements are based on a banking organization’s average consolidated on-balance sheet assets. For more detail on our regulatory capital, see the “Capital and Regulatory Matters” section of Item 7.

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We calculate RWA using the standardized approach and have made the one-time election to opt-out of recognizing in regulatory capital the impacts of net unrealized gains and losses included within AOCI for debt securities that are available for sale or held to maturity, accumulated net gains and losses on cash flow hedges and certain defined benefit pension plan assets.

On January 1, 2020, we adopted the CECL accounting standard. In reaction to the COVID disruption, on September 30, 2020, the federal banking regulators adopted a final rule relative to regulatory capital treatment of the ACL under CECL. This rule allowed electing banking organizations to delay the estimated impact of CECL on regulatory capital for a two-year period ending December 31, 2021, followed by a three-year transition period ending December 31, 2024. The three-year transition period will phase-in the reversal of the aggregate amount of the capital benefit provided during the initial two-year delay.

Under the U.S. Basel III rules, the minimum capital ratios are:

• 4.5% CET1 capital to risk-weighted assets;

• 6.0% tier 1 capital (that is, CET1 capital plus additional tier 1 capital) to risk-weighted assets;

• 8.0% total capital (that is, tier 1 capital plus tier 2 capital) to risk-weighted assets; and

• 4.0% tier 1 capital to total average consolidated assets as defined under U.S. Basel III Standardized approach (known as the “leverage ratio”).

For BHCs with $100 billion or more in assets, such as us, the FRB’s capital rules impose a dynamic institution-specific SCB on top of each of the three minimum risk-weighted capital ratios listed above. Banking institutions that fail to meet the effective minimum ratios including the SCB will be subject to constraints on capital distributions, including dividends and share repurchases, and certain discretionary executive compensation. The severity of the constraints depends on the amount of the shortfall and the institution’s “eligible retained income”, defined as the greater of four quarter trailing net income net of distributions and tax effects not reflected in net income, or the average four quarter trailing net income.

As a Category IV firm, our SCB is re-calibrated with each biennial supervisory stress test and updated annually to reflect our planned common stock dividends. On August 4, 2022, the FRB announced, based on the results of the 2022 CCAR supervisory stress tests, that our SCB will remain at 3.4% through September 30, 2023. To incorporate the effects of the Investors acquisition on our capital requirements, the FRB will require that we participate in the 2023 CCAR supervisory stress test. For more details, see “—Capital Planning and Stress Testing Requirements” below and the “Capital and Regulatory Matters” section of Item 7.

We are also subject to the FRB's risk-based capital requirements for market risk. See the “Market Risk” section of Item 7.

Liquidity Requirements

The federal banking regulators have adopted the Basel III-based U.S. Liquidity Coverage Ratio rule, which is a quantitative liquidity metric designed to ensure that a covered bank or BHC maintains an adequate level of unencumbered high-quality liquid assets to cover expected net cash outflows over a 30-day time horizon under an acute liquidity stress scenario. Under the Tailoring Rules, Category IV firms with less than $50 billion in weighted short-term wholesale funding, including us, are not subject to any Liquidity Coverage Ratio requirement.

The Basel III framework also includes a second liquidity standard, the NSFR, which is designed to promote more medium- and long-term funding of the assets and activities of banks over a one-year time horizon. In October 2020, the federal banking regulators issued a final rule to implement the NSFR for large U.S. banking organizations. Under the final rule, Category IV firms with less than $50 billion in weighted short-term wholesale funding, including us, are not subject to the NSFR requirement.

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Finally, per the liquidity rules included in the FRB’s enhanced prudential standards adopted pursuant to Section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Act, we are also required to maintain a buffer of highly liquid assets based on projected funding needs for 30 days. Under the Tailoring Rules, the liquidity buffer requirements continue to apply to Category IV firms, such as us, and we remain subject to liquidity risk management requirements. However, these requirements are now tailored such that we are required to:

• calculate collateral positions monthly, as opposed to weekly;

• establish a more limited set of liquidity risk limits than was previously required; and

• monitor fewer elements of intraday liquidity risk exposures than were previously monitored.

We are also now subject to liquidity stress testing quarterly, rather than monthly, and are required to report liquidity data on a monthly basis.

Capital Planning and Stress Testing Requirements

Under the Tailoring Rules, Category IV firms, such as us, are subject to biennial supervisory stress testing and are exempt from company-run stress testing and related disclosure requirements. The FRB continues to supervise Category IV firms on an ongoing basis, including evaluation of the capital adequacy and capital planning processes during off-cycle years. We remain subject to the requirement to develop, maintain and submit an annual capital plan for review and approval by our board of directors, or one of its committees, as well as FR Y-14 reporting requirements.

Regulations relating to capital planning, regulatory reporting, and stress testing and capital buffer requirements applicable to firms like us are presently subject to rule making and potential further guidance and interpretation by the applicable federal regulators. We will continue to evaluate the impact of these and any other prudential regulatory changes, including their potential resultant changes in our regulatory and compliance costs and expenses.

For more detail on our capital planning and stress testing requirements see the “Capital and Regulatory Matters” section of Item 7.

Resolution Planning

Category IV firms are no longer required to submit resolution plans to the FRB and FDIC. However, CBNA is required to file periodically a separate resolution plan with the FDIC that should enable the FDIC, as receiver, to resolve the institution under applicable receivership provisions of the FDIA in a manner that ensures that depositors receive access to their insured deposits within one business day of the institution’s failure, maximizes the net present value return from the sale or disposition of its assets and minimizes the amount of any loss to the institution’s creditors. In June 2021, the FDIC issued a Statement on Resolution Plans for Insured Depository Institutions that, among other things, established a three-year filing cycle for banks with $100 billion or more in total assets, such as CBNA, and provides details regarding the content of the resolution plans that filers are required to prepare. CBNA submitted its most recent resolution plan to the FDIC on December 1, 2022.

Standards for Safety and Soundness

The FDIA requires the FRB, OCC and FDIC to prescribe operational and managerial standards for all insured depository institutions, including CBNA. The agencies have adopted regulations and interagency guidelines that set forth the safety and soundness standards used to identify and address problems at insured depository institutions before capital becomes impaired. If an agency determines that a bank fails to satisfy any standard, it may require the bank to submit an acceptable plan to achieve compliance, consistent with deadlines for the submission and review of such safety and soundness compliance plans. If, after being notified to submit a compliance plan, an institution fails to submit an acceptable compliance plan or fails in any material respect to implement an acceptable compliance plan, the agency must issue an order directing action to correct the deficiency and may issue an order directing other actions of the types to which an undercapitalized institution is subject under the FDIA. See “Federal Deposit Insurance Act” below. If an institution fails to comply with such an order, the agency may seek to enforce such order in judicial proceedings and to impose civil money penalties.

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Federal Deposit Insurance Act

The FDIA requires, among other things, that the federal banking regulators take “prompt corrective action” with respect to depository institutions that do not meet minimum capital requirements, as described above in “Capital.” The FDIA sets forth the following five capital categories: “well-capitalized,” “adequately capitalized,” “undercapitalized,” “significantly undercapitalized” and “critically undercapitalized.” A depository institution’s capital category depends upon how its capital levels compare with various relevant capital measures and certain other factors that are established by regulation. The federal banking regulators must take certain mandatory supervisory actions, and are authorized to take other discretionary actions, with respect to institutions that are undercapitalized, significantly undercapitalized or critically undercapitalized, with the actions becoming more restrictive and punitive the lower the institution’s capital category. Under existing rules, an institution that is not an advanced approaches institution, such as CBNA, is deemed to be “well capitalized” if it has a CET1 ratio of at least 6.5%, a tier 1 capital ratio of at least 8%, a total capital ratio of at least 10%, and a tier 1 leverage ratio of at least 5%.

The FDIA’s prompt corrective action provisions only apply to depository institutions and not to BHCs. The FRB’s regulations applicable to BHCs separately define “well capitalized” for BHCs, such as the Parent Company, to require maintaining a tier 1 capital ratio of at least 6% and a total capital ratio of at least 10%. As described above under “—Bank and Financial Holding Company Regulation”, a FHC that is not well-capitalized and well-managed (or whose bank subsidiaries are not well capitalized and well managed) under applicable prompt corrective action standards may be restricted in certain of its activities and ultimately may lose FHC status. As of December 31, 2022, both the Parent Company and CBNA were well-capitalized.

The FDIA prohibits insured banks from accepting brokered deposits or offering interest rates on any deposits significantly higher than the prevailing rate in the bank’s normal market area or nationally, depending upon where the deposits are solicited, unless it is “well-capitalized,” or it is “adequately capitalized” and receives a waiver from the FDIC. A bank that is “adequately capitalized” and accepts brokered deposits under a waiver from the FDIC may not pay an interest rate on any deposit in excess of 75 basis points over certain prevailing market rates. The FDIA imposes no such restrictions on a bank that is “well-capitalized.”

Deposit Insurance

The FDIA requires CBNA to pay deposit insurance assessments. FDIC assessment rates for large institutions are calculated based on one of two scorecards: one for most large institutions that have more than $10 billion in assets, such as CBNA, and another for “highly complex” institutions that have over $50 billion in assets and are fully owned by a parent with over $500 billion in assets. Each scorecard has a performance score and a loss-severity score that are combined to produce a total score, which is translated into an initial assessment rate. In calculating these scores, the FDIC utilizes the CAMELS ratings and forward-looking financial measures to assess an institution’s ability to withstand asset-related stress and funding-related stress. The FDIC may make discretionary adjustments to the total score, based upon significant risk factors that are not adequately captured in the scorecard. The total score is then translated to an initial base assessment rate on a non-linear, sharply increasing scale.

The deposit insurance assessment is calculated based on average consolidated total assets less average tangible equity of the insured depository institution during the assessment period. Deposit insurance assessments are also affected by the minimum reserve ratio with respect to the DIF. The FDIA established a minimum DIF reserve ratio of 1.15% prior to September 2020 and 1.35% thereafter. As of September 30, 2022, the reserve ratio of the DIF was 1.26%.

On October 18, 2022, the FDIC finalized a rule that will increase initial base deposit insurance assessment rates by 2 basis points, beginning with the first quarterly assessment period of 2023. The FDIC, as required under the FDIA, established a plan in September 2020 to restore the DIF reserve ratio to meet or exceed the statutory minimum of 1.35% within eight years. The increased assessment is intended to improve the likelihood that the DIF reserve ratio would reach the required minimum by the statutory deadline of September 30, 2028.

Dividends

Various federal statutory provisions and regulations, as well as regulatory expectations, limit the amount of dividends that we and our subsidiaries may pay.

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Our payment of dividends to our stockholders is subject to the oversight of the FRB. In particular, the FRB reviews the dividend policies and share repurchases of a large BHC based on capital plans submitted as part of the CCAR process and on the results of stress tests, as discussed above. In addition to other limitations, our ability to make any capital distributions, including dividends and share repurchases, is subject to the prior approval of the FRB if we are required to resubmit our capital plan. See “—Capital” and “—Capital Planning and Stress Testing Requirements” above.

Dividends payable by CBNA, as a national bank subsidiary, are limited to the lesser of the amount calculated under a “recent earnings” test and an “undivided profits” test. Under the recent earnings test, a dividend may not be paid if the total of all dividends declared by a bank in any calendar year is in excess of the current year’s net income combined with the retained net income of the two preceding years, less any required transfers to surplus, unless the national bank obtains the approval of the OCC. Under the undivided profits test, a dividend may not be paid in excess of the entity’s “undivided profits” (generally, accumulated net profits that have not been paid out as dividends or transferred to surplus). Federal bank regulatory agencies have issued policy statements that provide that FDIC-insured depository institutions and their holding companies should generally pay dividends only out of their current operating earnings.

Support of Subsidiary Bank

Under Section 616 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which codifies the FRB’s long-standing “source of strength” doctrine, the Parent Company must serve as a source of financial and managerial strength for our depository institution subsidiary. The statute defines “source of financial strength” as the ability to provide financial assistance in the event of the financial distress at the insured depository institution. The FRB may require that the Parent Company provide such support at times even when the Parent Company may not have the financial resources to do so, or when doing so may not serve our interests or those of our shareholders or creditors. In addition, any capital loans by a BHC to its subsidiary bank are subordinate in right of payment to deposits and to certain other indebtedness of such subsidiary bank. In the event of a BHC’s bankruptcy, any commitment by the BHC to a federal bank regulatory agency to maintain the capital of a subsidiary bank will be assumed by the bankruptcy trustee and entitled to a priority of payment.

Transactions with Affiliates and Insiders

Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act and related FRB rules, including Regulation W, restrict CBNA from extending credit to, or engaging in certain other transactions with, the Parent Company and its non-bank subsidiaries. These restrictions place limits on certain specified “covered transactions” between bank subsidiaries and their affiliates, which must be limited to 10% of a bank’s capital and surplus for any one affiliate and 20% for all affiliates. Furthermore, within the foregoing limitations as to amount, certain covered transactions must meet specified collateral requirements ranging from 100% to 130%. Covered transactions are defined to include, among other things, a loan or extension of credit, as well as a purchase of securities issued by an affiliate, a purchase of assets (unless otherwise exempted by the FRB) from the affiliate, the acceptance of securities issued by the affiliate as collateral for a loan, derivatives transactions and securities lending transactions where the bank has credit exposure to an affiliate, and the issuance of a guarantee, acceptance or letter of credit on behalf of an affiliate. All covered transactions, including certain additional transactions (such as transactions with a third party in which an affiliate has a financial interest), must be conducted on market terms. The FRB enforces these restrictions, and we are audited for compliance.

Section 23B prohibits an institution from engaging in certain transactions with affiliates unless the transactions are on terms substantially the same, or at least as favorable to the bank, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions with non-affiliated companies. Transactions between a bank and any of its subsidiaries that are engaged in certain financial activities may be subject to the affiliated transaction limits. The FRB also may designate banking subsidiaries as affiliates.

Pursuant to FRB Regulation O, we are also subject to quantitative restrictions on extensions of credit to executive officers, directors, principal stockholders and their related interests. In general, such extensions of credit may not exceed certain dollar limitations, must be made on substantially the same terms, including interest rates and collateral, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions with third parties and must not involve more than the normal risk of repayment or present other unfavorable features. Certain extensions of credit also require the approval of our Board.

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Volcker Rule

The Dodd-Frank Act prohibits banks and their affiliates from engaging in proprietary trading and investing in, sponsoring and having certain relationships with private funds such as certain hedge funds or private equity funds. The statutory provision is commonly called the “Volcker Rule.” In 2019, the FRB, OCC, FDIC, SEC and CFTC (collectively, the “Volcker Agencies”) finalized amendments to their regulations to tailor the Volcker Rule’s compliance requirements to the amount of a firm’s trading activity, revise the definition of trading account, clarify certain key provisions in the Volcker Rule, and modify the information companies are required to provide the Volcker Agencies. Under those amendments, we are viewed as having “moderate” trading assets and liabilities, and therefore subject to a requirement to have a simplified compliance program that is appropriate for our activities, size, scope, and complexity. In June 2020, the Volcker Agencies finalized other regulations modifying the Volcker Rule’s prohibition on banking entities investing in or sponsoring hedge funds or private equity funds (referred to under the rule as covered funds). We do not expect either of these regulatory amendments to the Volcker Rule to have a material impact on Citizens.

Consumer Financial Protection Regulations

The retail activities of banks are subject to a variety of statutes and regulations designed to protect consumers and promote lending to various sectors of the economy and population. These laws include, but are not limited to, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, the Service Members Civil Relief Act, the Expedited Funds Availability Act, the Right to Financial Privacy Act, the Truth in Savings Act, the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, and their respective federal regulations and state law counterparts.

In addition to these federal laws and regulations, the guidance and interpretations of the various federal agencies charged with the responsibility of implementing such regulations also influences loan and deposit operations.

The CFPB has broad rulemaking, supervisory, examination and enforcement authority over various consumer financial protection laws, including the laws referenced above, fair lending laws and certain other statutes. The CFPB also has examination and primary enforcement authority with respect to depository institutions with $10 billion or more in assets, including the authority to prevent unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices in connection with the offering of consumer financial products.

The Dodd-Frank Act permits states to adopt stricter consumer protection laws and standards that are more stringent than those adopted at the federal level, and in certain circumstances allows state attorneys general to enforce compliance with both the state and federal laws and regulations. State regulation of financial products and potential enforcement actions could also adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Protection of Customer Personal Information and Cybersecurity

The privacy provisions of GLBA generally prohibit financial institutions, including us, from disclosing nonpublic personal financial information of consumer customers to third parties for certain purposes (primarily marketing) unless customers have the opportunity to opt out of the disclosure. The Fair Credit Reporting Act restricts information sharing among affiliates for marketing purposes. Both the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Regulation V, issued by the FRB, govern the use and provision of information to consumer reporting agencies.

The federal banking regulators regularly issue guidance regarding cybersecurity intended to enhance cyber risk management standards among financial institutions. Financial institutions are expected to design multiple layers of security controls to establish lines of defense and to ensure that their risk management processes also address the risk posed by compromised customer credentials, including security measures to reliably authenticate customers’ accessing internet-based services of the financial institution. Further, a financial institution’s management is expected to maintain sufficient business continuity planning processes to ensure the rapid recovery, resumption and maintenance of the institution’s operations after a cyber-attack involving destructive malware. A financial institution is also expected to develop appropriate processes to enable recovery of data and business operations and address rebuilding network capabilities and restoring data if the institution or its critical service providers fall victim to this type of cyber-attack. If we fail to observe the regulatory guidance, we could be subject to various regulatory sanctions, including financial penalties. For a further discussion of risks related to cybersecurity, see Item 1A “Risk Factors.”

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In November 2021, the federal banking regulators issued a final rule mandating financial institutions to report certain significant cybersecurity incidents to regulators. The final rule requires a financial institution to notify its primary banking regulator within 36 hours of certain significant cybersecurity incidents which has or is reasonably likely to disrupt or degrade its:

• ability to carry out banking operations, activities, or processes, or deliver banking products and services to a material portion of its customer base;

• business lines, including associated operations, services, functions, and support, that upon failure would result in a material loss of revenue, profit, or franchise value; or

• operations, including associated services, functions, and support, the failure or discontinuance of which would pose a threat to the financial stability of the United States.

Bank service providers are required to notify at least one designated point of contact at affected banking organization customers as soon as possible after any computer-security incident which has or is reasonably likely to materially disrupt or degrade covered services for four or more hours. The final rule was effective April 1, 2022, with a compliance date of May 1, 2022. In addition, in March 2022, the SEC proposed new rules that would require reporting on Form 8-K of material cybersecurity incidents.

State regulators have also been increasingly active in implementing privacy and cybersecurity standards and regulations. Recently, several states have adopted laws and regulations requiring certain financial institutions to implement cybersecurity programs and providing detailed requirements with respect to these programs, including data encryption requirements. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act, which became effective on January 1, 2020, gives new rights to California residents to require certain businesses to disclose or delete their personal information. In addition, many states have also recently implemented or modified their data breach notification and data privacy requirements. We expect this trend of state-level activity to continue and are continually monitoring developments in the states in which we operate.

Community Reinvestment Act

The CRA requires banking regulators to evaluate the Parent Company and CBNA in meeting the credit needs of our local communities, including providing credit to individuals residing in low- and moderate- income neighborhoods. The CRA also requires each appropriate federal bank regulatory agency, in connection with its examination of a depository institution, to assess such institution’s record in assessing and meeting the credit needs of the community served by that institution and assign ratings. The regulatory agency’s evaluation of the institution’s record and ratings are made public. These CRA performance evaluations are also considered by regulatory agencies in evaluating mergers, acquisitions and applications to open a branch or facility, and, in the case of a BHC that has elected FHC status, a CRA rating of at least “satisfactory” is required to commence certain new financial activities or to acquire a company engaged in such activities. CBNA received a rating of “outstanding” in our most recent CRA evaluation.

On May 5, 2022, the FRB, OCC and FDIC jointly issued a notice of proposed rulemaking proposing revisions to the agencies’ CRA regulations, including with respect to the delineation of assessment areas, the overall evaluation framework and performance standards and metrics, the definition of community development activities, and data collection and reporting. The proposed rule would adjust CRA evaluations based on bank size and type, with many of the proposed changes applying only to banks with over $2 billion in assets and several applying only to banks with over $10 billion in assets, such as CBNA. We will continue to evaluate the impact of any changes to the regulations implementing the CRA.

Compensation

Our compensation practices are subject to oversight by the FRB and the OCC. The federal banking regulators have issued guidance designed to ensure that incentive compensation arrangements at banking organizations take into account risk and are consistent with safe and sound practices. The guidance sets forth the following three key principles with respect to incentive compensation arrangements:

• the arrangements should provide employees with incentives that appropriately balance risk and financial results in a manner that does not encourage employees to expose their organizations to imprudent risk;

• the arrangements should be compatible with effective controls and risk management; and

• the arrangements should be supported by strong corporate governance.

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The guidance provides that supervisory findings with respect to incentive compensation will be incorporated, as appropriate, into the organization’s supervisory ratings.

The U.S. financial regulators, including the FRB, the OCC and the SEC, jointly proposed regulations in 2011 and again in 2016 to implement the incentive compensation requirements of Section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Act. These regulations have not been finalized.

Anti-Money Laundering

The Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) and the Patriot Act contain anti-money laundering (“AML”) and financial transparency provisions intended to detect and prevent the use of the U.S. financial system for money laundering and terrorist financing activities. The BSA, as amended by the Patriot Act, requires depository institutions and their holding companies to undertake activities including maintaining an AML program, verifying the identity of customers, verifying the identity of certain beneficial owners for legal entity customers, monitoring for and reporting suspicious transactions, reporting on cash transactions exceeding specified thresholds, and responding to requests for information by regulatory authorities and law enforcement agencies. We are also required to provide our employees with AML training, designate an AML compliance officer, and undergo an annual, independent audit to assess the effectiveness of our AML program. We have implemented policies, procedures, and internal controls that are designed to comply with these AML requirements. Financial services regulators are focusing their examinations on AML compliance, and we continue to monitor and augment, where necessary, our AML compliance programs. The federal banking agencies are required, when reviewing bank and bank holding company acquisition or merger applications, to take into account the effectiveness of the AML activities of the applicants.

The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (“AMLA”), enacted on January 1, 2021 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, does not directly impose new requirements on financial institutions, but requires the U.S. Treasury Department to issue National Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Priorities and conduct studies and issue regulations that may, over the next few years, significantly alter some of the due diligence, recordkeeping and reporting requirements that the BSA and the Patriot Act impose on financial institutions. The AMLA also increases penalties for violations of the BSA and significantly expands a whistleblower award program both of which could increase the prospect of regulatory enforcement. In June 2021, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department, issued the priorities for AML and countering the financing of terrorism policy, as required under the AMLA. The priorities include: corruption, cybercrime, terrorist financing, fraud, transnational crime, drug trafficking, human trafficking and proliferation financing.

Office of Foreign Assets Control Regulation

The U.S. has imposed economic sanctions that affect transactions with designated foreign countries, nationals and others. These are typically known as the “OFAC” rules based on their administration by the U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control. The OFAC-administered sanctions targeting countries take many different forms. Generally, they contain one or more of the following elements:

• restrictions on trade with or investment in a sanctioned country, including prohibitions against direct or indirect imports from and exports to a sanctioned country and prohibitions on U.S. persons engaging in financial transactions relating to, making investments in, or providing investment-related advice or assistance to, a sanctioned country; and

• a blocking of assets in which the government or specially designated nationals of the sanctioned country have an interest, by prohibiting transfers of property subject to U.S. jurisdiction (including property in the possession or control of U.S. persons). Blocked assets (e.g., property and bank deposits) cannot be paid out, withdrawn, set off or transferred in any manner without a license from OFAC.

OFAC publishes, and routinely updates, lists of names of persons and organizations suspected of aiding, harboring or engaging in terrorist acts, including the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons. We are responsible for, among other things, blocking accounts of, and transactions with, such targets and countries, prohibiting unlicensed trade and financial transactions with them and reporting blocked transactions after their occurrence. If we find a name on any transaction, account or wire transfer that is on an OFAC list, we must freeze such account, file a suspicious activity report and notify the appropriate authorities. Failure to comply with these sanctions could have serious legal and reputational consequences.

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Regulation of Broker-Dealers

Our subsidiaries, CCMI, Citizens Securities, Inc., and JMP Securities LLC are registered broker-dealers with the SEC and subject to regulation and examination by the SEC as well as FINRA and other self-regulatory organizations. These regulations cover a broad range of issues, including capital requirements; sales and trading practices; use of client funds and securities; the conduct of directors, officers and employees; record-keeping and recording; supervisory procedures to prevent improper trading on material nonpublic information; qualification and licensing of sales personnel; and limitations on the extension of credit in securities transactions. In addition to federal registration, state securities commissions require the registration of certain broker-dealers.

Heightened Risk Governance Standards

CBNA is subject to OCC guidelines imposing heightened risk governance standards on large national banks with average total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more. The guidelines set forth minimum standards for the design and implementation of a bank’s risk governance framework, and minimum standards for oversight of that framework by a bank’s board of directors. The guidelines are intended to protect the safety and soundness of covered banks and improve bank examiners’ ability to assess compliance with the OCC’s expectations. Under the guidelines, a bank may use its parent company’s risk governance framework if the framework meets the minimum standards, the risk profiles of the parent company and the covered bank are substantially the same, and certain other conditions are met. CBNA has elected to use the Parent Company’s risk governance framework. A bank’s board of directors is required to have two members who are independent of the bank and parent company management. A bank’s board of directors is responsible for ensuring that the risk governance framework meets the standards in the guidelines, providing active oversight and a credible challenge to management’s recommendations and decisions and ensuring that the parent company decisions do not jeopardize the safety and soundness of the bank.

Intellectual Property

In the highly competitive banking industry in which we operate, trademarks, service marks and logos are important to the success of our business. We own and license a variety of trademarks, service marks, logos and pending registrations and are spending significant resources to develop our stand-alone brands.

Website Access to Citizens’ Filings with the SEC

We maintain a website at investor.citizensbank.com. We make available on our website, free of charge, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, including exhibits, and amendments to those reports that are filed or furnished to the SEC pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These documents are made available on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. The SEC also maintains an internet site (www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.