Hope Holding Bryant loves a good jigsaw puzzle, and she's been working on a particularly challenging one lately. The vice chairwoman of $237 billion-asset First Citizens Bank, where she's also head of the core general bank, is playing a key role integrating a complex-but-promising series of recent acquisitions.
Since 2022, the Raleigh, N.C.-based company has quadrupled in size and expanded nationally by acquiring commercial lender CIT Group (including the old One West Bank franchise), the remains of failed Silicon Valley Bank from the FDIC, and 138 branches from BMO. Pulling everything together under one roof has become Bryant's passion.
"I'm as excited about my job today as I've ever been," says Bryant, a third-generation banker who learned the craft around the kitchen table from her father. "It feels like I'm putting together a big jigsaw puzzle. I love the challenge."
Bryant has been working with a team of other top executives to oversee the integration effort as a self-described "chief empowerment officer," ensuring that the company's culture, balance sheet and infrastructure are up to the task.
She's also been focused on folding Midwestern branches from BMO and SVB's wealth management business into her general bank, which includes retail and small-business banking and wealth management, rebranding the operations to give those pieces one cohesive identity.
"There's been a tremendous amount of lifting in areas like technology or risk, and Hope is in the middle of it all," says Robert Newcomb, a First Citizens board member. "She's poised and well-grounded. At the same time, she's tenacious and very driven. It's the family legacy."
The company's 2025 earnings were down slightly from the previous year—something Piper Sandler analyst Stephen Scouten says wasn't a surprise given the growth. "They're so much bigger now, the infrastructure needs have been a pretty heavy lift from an expense and logistics standpoint," he says.
Excluding notable items, the bank generated $2.3 billion in net income available to common shareholders last year, yielding an adjusted ROE of 10.80% and adjusted ROA of 1.03%. Loans increased $7.7 billion, or 6% year over year, driven primarily by commercial lending and supported by steady performance within the general bank. Deposits grew $6.4 billion, or 4% year over year.
As the pieces continue to fall into place, results have rebounded: Net income in the first six months of 2026 was 11.7% higher than the year before, while adjusted returns on equity (11.66%) and assets (1.08%) both improved. For the year ended June 30, Bryant's general bank grew deposits 6% and assets under management 9%.
Bryant, who also serves on the boards of two smaller banks where her family owns controlling stakes and recently joined the board of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Carolina, acknowledges the relatively flat performance but says it's due mostly to the inevitable repositioning of businesses and the balance sheet following the deals.
Waiting for the puzzle to be completed, she adds, will be worth some short-term pain.
"We're making great progress," she says. "This isn't rocket science. Banking at its best isn't the most complicated business, but we have a lot of moving parts to address. We're busy and we're having a lot of fun."
