Citizens Financial Group, which recently bought one Massachusetts Bank and a portion of another, solidified its commitment to Rhode Island last week with the announcement that those acquisitions will lead to 500 new jobs in Rhode Island. Citizens, which is owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, is the only remaining large bank with headquarters in Rhode Island. Fleet Financial is in Boston and BankBoston, which is merging with Fleet, is also in Boston.
Sovereign Bank, which is buying many of the Fleet/BankBoston branches has said its New England headquarters will be in Boston.
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Most of the new jobs with Citizens, computer programming and operational jobs, will be housed at the former Davol Building at 100 Sockanosset Cross Road in Cranston. Citizens will occupy 102,000 square feet of the building, with Davol retaining 70,000 square feet as a tenant. Citizens officials said they would initially move 200 employees into the building during the renovation phase and by February 2000 bring in 300 new employees. The 200 employees will apparently be moved from other Rhode Island locations.
Besides the 300 at the former Davol building, Citizens’ officials said they are renovating the bank’s East Providence and Jefferson Boulevard (Warwick) facilities to accommodate 200 new employees.
Mark J. Formica, president and chief executive officer of Citizens Bank of Rhode Island, a subsidiary of Citizens’ Financial, said the new jobs are the direct result of the Massachusetts acquisitions.
Citizens recently acquired UST Corp., with $6 billion in assets, 87 branches and 212 ATMs in Massachusetts. Citizens also recently acquired State Street Corporation’s commercial banking business.
The bank has been extremely active over the last decade, acquiring 17 banks over that period, and growing from $4.4 billion in assets in 1992 to $28 billion with the acquisition of UST, which is expected to be complete in January, and the State Street acquisition. Citizens Bank Rhode Island currently has $6 billion in assets. Once the acquisitions are complete, the bank will be the nation’s 33rd largest.
While continuing to grow and acquire holdings outside of Rhode Island, Larry Fish, Citizens’ Financial’s chairman and Formica have maintained that Rhode Island will continue to be the bank’s home.
”We are very pleased to have found a facility in Cranston which provides us with space to grow and is centrally located for our employees,” Formica said. “This move solidifies our commitment to Rhode Island and strengthens our already deep roots within the community.”
Formica praised state and local political leadership for providing the support that helped bring about the Rhode Island expansion.
The new jobs drew considerable praise from a variety of local and statewide politicians, including John Swen, director of the state Economic Development Corporation who said the “project surpassed expectations, generated an amazing number of local jobs and boosted our growing financial services industry.”
Besides the Citizens’ jobs, Fidelity Investments has said it is adding 1,300 employees at its Smithfield facility, which currently employs about 1,200. Fidelity is building a second building.
Gov. Lincoln Almond said the additional Citizens’ jobs are “testimony” that “Rhode Island is on the move” and that the state is becoming “more competitive.”
The governor and the legislature have targeted financial services as among Rhode Island’s primary growth industries, passing legislation favorable to financial services companies moving to the state or expanding operations here.
Citizens is already among Rhode Island’s top employers, with nearly 2,900 employees in the state, according to Providence Business News’ list of top employers that appeared in its March 15 issue.
In Rhode Island, Citizens has 62 branches; in Massachusetts it has more than 100 branches; in Connecticut it has 43 branches; and in New Hampshire, it has 75 branches.
Citizens in Rhode Island was first established in 1828 as the High Street Bank on Hoyle Square in Providence. In 1948, the High Street Bank moved into Citizens’ primary building and changed its name to Citizens’ Trust Company and in the 1980s became its own bank holding company. In 1988, Citizens became a wholly owned subsidiary of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
