McCree named vice chairman, head of commercial banking at Citizens

PROVIDENCE – Citizens Financial Group Inc. on Wednesday tapped a JPMorgan Chase & Co. veteran to take over as vice chairman and head of commercial banking, a position left open since the unexpected death of Robert Matthews last December.
Donald H. McCree, 52, will take over the responsibilities effective Sept. 1 and will serve on the Citizens Executive Committee reporting directly to chairman and CEO Bruce Van Saun who lauded McCree and the appointment in a statement.
“I am delighted to have someone of Don’s stature and caliber join the Citizens management team to lead Citizens Commercial Banking through its next growth phase,” Van Saun said. “I am confident that Don can help take us take it to the next level. Our success as a company rests on our ability to attract great people and the hiring of Don for this role following our recent hiring of Eric Aboaf as CFO (chief financial officer) demonstrates our capacity to do that.”
Aboaf joined Citizens last April succeeding John Fawcett who retired.
McCree worked in various senior leadership positions with JPMorgan for 31 years before retiring halfway through 2014 amid a number of executive shifts at the company. McCree’s predecessor Matthews died in December of an apparent heart attack and Bob Rubino, head of corporate finance and capital markets and Steve Woods, head of corporate banking, have both served as interim co-heads of commercial banking in his stead.
The appointment comes at a time when Citizens parent – the Royal Bank of Scotland – is trying to disinvest in its U.S. unit. RBS on Monday announced it would try to raise as much as $3.3 billion, selling as many as 132.3 million Citizens shares to investors, which reduces its ownership to 46.1 percent, but Van Saun earlier this year signaled that RBS would try to deconsolidate by reducing its ownership stake to less than 35 percent before year’s end.
McCree, a University of Vermont graduate, most recently held the position of head of corporate banking and CEO of global treasury services at JPMorgan. The bank’s newest executive says he’s pleased with the opportunity.
“I am very pleased to join Bruce and the leadership team at Citizens as they work towards building a top-performing regional bank. It is a great platform and I am excited by this opportunity to drive the business forward,” McCree said in a statement.