Sep. 12 at 1:58 AM
Fitch Ratings upgraded Citizens Financial Group and its operating subsidiary Citizens Bank to ’A-’ from ’BBB+’, citing sustained improvements in earnings generation and profitability, while maintaining a stable outlook. Fitch also raised their Viability Ratings to ’a-’ from ’bbb+’, with short-term ratings unchanged at ’F1’. The upgrade reflects stronger margins from asset repricing, stable credit costs and long-term investments in fee-generating businesses such as private banking, capital markets and wealth management. Non-interest income accounted for 28% of revenue in the first half of 2026, while private-bank assets under management rose 48% year over year in Q2.
Citizens’ operating profit improved to 1.6% of risk-weighted assets in Q2 from 1.1% in 2024, with wealth-management revenue up 16% and capital-markets revenue up 52% year over year. The bank’s impaired-loan ratio remained at 1.8%, while net charge-offs fell to 38 basis points from 57 basis points in Q1 2025.
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