During a sit-down interview, Bruce Van Saun, the CEO at Citizens Financial, explained how Washington policy changes could boost lending, why cyber threats keep him up nights and how fintechs and AI are changing the industry for the better.
The Rhode Island bank plans to build out its fee income capabilities, expand C&I lending in the Southeast, renegotiate vendor contracts and take other steps to produce expense cuts and revenue enhancements of at least $90 million.
Fees from capital markets activities have propelled profits at several regional banks when they needed it —and just as the Glass-Steagall redux crowd wants to kill it.
Executives at BB&T, KeyCorp and Citizens are milking commercial lending niches and balancing cost control with new investments while waiting for more rate hikes to fatten margins.
The "Citizens Checkup" program to help customers set financial goals has come under fire, but CEO Bruce Van Saun says it is valuable and "here to stay," and that the criticism of it pales in comparison to the Wells Fargo scandal.
