Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is an American bank holding company, headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.

[12] Expansion outside New England began in 2001, when RBS purchased the retail banking division of Mellon Financial Corporation in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware for $2 billion.

[20] In early 2005, the Charter One name replaced the Citizens Bank banner on seven branches in Butler County, Pennsylvania.

[29][30] In May 2008, Citizens Financial Group failed to publicly announce that it was under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its involvement in the sub-prime mortgage crisis that devastated the U.S. housing market and bond investors around the world.

[33] Royal Bank of Scotland posted the biggest loss in British corporate history and announced cost-cutting measures at Citizens.

In 2012, public pressure in the United Kingdom grew for RBS to focus on its home market and sell foreign assets, including Citizens Bank, in order for UK taxpayers to earn their money back.

[41] The bank began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CFG on September 24, 2014, raising $3 billion.

[46] In August 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other federal regulators levied nearly $35 million in penalties against Citizens Bank "for failing to credit to customers’ accounts the full amount of their deposits".

[49] The bank was required to reimburse its customers for lost funds as well as pay roughly $20 million in fines to the three agencies.

[47] The New York Times said that Citizens Bank's misconduct "is appalling precisely because it is so basic", demonstrating that "regulators like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are a necessary defense against a system prone to abuses".

[50] On May 12, 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States Department of Justice requested from numerous banks, including Citizens, Trump 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort's transaction records.

[51] On February 26, 2018, Bloomberg News reported that Citizens' stock price dropped 4.1 percent after U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of Manafort was released, appearing to indicate that Citizens was the "Lender B" cited as having lent 3.4 million dollars to the former campaign manager of President Trump.

[52] In August 2018, Citizens completed its acquisition of Franklin American Mortgage in a deal valued at $511 Million, expanding its presence into Tennessee and Texas.

[54][55] In April 2022, Citizens completed the acquisition of 80 branches from HSBC in New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and Florida.

[56] In July 2021, Citizens announced plans to acquire New Jersey–based bank holding company Investors Bancorp for $3.5 billion.

The greatest number of these are in Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle stores, most of which were acquired in the acquisition of Mellon Financial Corporation's retail banking division.

In October 2009, Citizens Bank opened a full-service branch inside a Dunkin' Donuts in Bellingham, Massachusetts.