Citizens to Rebrand Charter One Branches

Citizens Financial Group is rebranding its Charter One retail locations, part of the preparations for its spinoff from the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The $128 billion-asset bank said Monday that it will rebrand its Charter One branches as Citizens Bank by mid-2015.

Citizens Financial, which is based in Providence, R.I., has more than 1,200 branches in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest.

It operates more than 200 of those, in Michigan and Ohio, under the Charter One name. It bought Charter One in 2004; Charter One had $41 billion of assets and 616 branches at the time.

The rebranding plan comes just one week after Citizens completed its sale of 94 Charter One branches in Chicago to U.S. Bancorp (USB).

The company will also rename its commercial banking division Citizens Commercial Banking during the fourth quarter, and its consumer lending offices outside its 11-state retail territory will be called Citizens One.

"We aspire for Citizens to become a top-performing regional bank, and this rebranding effort is part of our strategy to grow our business in the Midwest and beyond," Chairman and Chief Executive Bruce Van Saun said in a press release Monday.

Royal Bank of Scotland announced plans last year to spin off Citizens, citing regulatory pressure. RBS said last November that it would divest itself through offerings in 2015 and 2016. It filed for the initial public offering for Citizens in May.

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