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Citizens Bank ranks No. 1 small business lender in Massachusetts and New England
Citizens increases business banking checking accounts by 15 percent; continues to invest in resources aimed at better serving small businesses BOSTON (October 15, 2007) - Citizens Bank today announced it ranks as the No. 1 SBA lender in Massachusetts and New England, making Citizens the No. 1 SBA lender in the state and region for the seventh consecutive year.
In Massachusetts, Citizens topped all SBA lenders in the number of loans with 384 loans totaling nearly $16 million. The SBA rankings are based on the number of loans originated by banks from October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007, the end of the SBA fiscal year. With 1,014 loans totaling more than $36.7 million in New England, Citizens also is the No. 1 SBA lender in the region.
“Small business is the economic engine that fuels our economy and creates the most jobs for our work force,” said Robert E. Smyth, President, Citizens Bank, Massachusetts. “As such, Citizens is committed to providing small businesses the specialized products and services they need to grow.”
As part of its commitment to small business and job creation, Citizens has provided, through its Citizens Job Bank, more than $37 million in below-market rate capital to Massachusetts companies expanding their operations and committing to creating jobs. To date, 931 jobs have been created at 38 firms in Massachusetts through the program. In New England, 2,839 jobs have been created at 107 firms with more than $100 million in funds. In total, the program has provided more than $280 million to160 companies across the bank’s 13-state footprint, creating 9,000 jobs.
“Small business owners have unique and diverse needs,” said Smyth. “Given the importance of this sector to our economy, Citizens works hard to meet these needs through SBA lending, programs such as the Citizens Job Bank and conventional products. To that end, we are seeing more small businesses qualify for conventional products with the improvements in the economy, continuing the trend we have observed during the past few years.”
Citizens continues to invest in resources aimed at better serving the needs of small business customers. This year, Citizens increased the number of Business Bankers in its footprint by eight percent and it plans to hire 40 new Business Banking Relationship Managers in its footprint in the coming year.
As a result of its continued focus on small business, Citizens this year increased by 15 percent the number of small businesses that it serves with checking accounts throughout its footprint.
About Citizens Bank
Citizens Bank is a division of RBS Citizens, N.A., operating its seven-state branch network in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.
It has 263 branches and 608 ATMs in Massachusetts.
RBS Citizens, N.A. is a subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group, Inc., a $159 billion commercial bank holding company headquartered in Providence, R.I. CFG’s two bank subsidiaries are RBS Citizens, N.A. and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. They operate a 13-state branch network under the Citizens Bank brand in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont, and the Charter One brand in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. CFG has non-branch retail and commercial offices in about 40 states. It is one of the 10 largest commercial banking companies in the United States ranked by assets and deposits. CFG is owned by RBS (The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc).
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