Citizens' strong Q2 results driven by rising interest income

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Citizens Financial outdid Wall Street's expectations in the second quarter, buoyed by steadily rising net interest income.

From April through June 2025, earnings per share for the bank were $0.92, beating analysts' average estimate of $0.88, according to S&P. Revenue came in at $2.04 billion, slightly above estimates of $2.01 billion.

The bigger difference was in the bottom line: Net income reached $436 million, far outpacing estimates of $389.63 million, per S&P. It also marked an 11% increase from the same period last year.

Citizens CEO Bruce Van Saun credited the rising profits to a number of factors, including solid net interest income. NII for the Providence, Rhode Island-based bank reached $1.44 billion in the second quarter, up 2% year over year.

"We are pleased to report strong results today that came in ahead of expectations, paced by strong NII and fee growth, disciplined expense management, and credit results that are trending favorably," Van Saun said in a statement. "We are well-positioned to have a strong second half of the year and to sustain that momentum into the medium term."

Noticeably absent in that statement was any mention of the challenging macro environment, which has been rocked by uncertainty over President Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs. In recent months, Van Saun has expressed optimism that the flux in trade policy would smooth itself out.

"It feels like we're a little bit in a new normal," Van Saun told American Banker in June. "People accept that Trump wants to negotiate fairer trade, and he's going to use the tariffs as a cudgel to achieve that, but the worst case scenario — of really super high tariffs sticking — is pretty much off the table."

In recent years, Citizens has been retooling its business strategy with a number of new initiatives, including the creation of a private bank. In Thursday's earnings statement, Van Saun said the new strategy has been going well.

"Our key strategic initiatives, paced by the private bank/private wealth build out, continue to make good progress," Van Saun said.

Citizens launched the private bank in October 2023, in a bid to expand its wealth management business and bring in more high-net-worth clients. Brendan Coughlin, Citizens' president, has said the bank is "grounded in offering a world-class, extraordinary customer experience."

Little more than a year later, Citizens Private Bank turned its first profits. And earlier this month, it launched a subsidiary specifically for startup business leaders, dubbed Citizens for Startups, offering "white-glove" banking services to entrepreneurs.

Read more about bank earnings:
https://www.americanbanker.com/earnings

In his statement on Thursday, Van Saun framed the private bank as part of a wider reenvisioning of Citizens' operations, which he said would pick up steam over the next few years.

"We have commenced work on a broad 'Reimagining the Bank' initiative that will become a multi-year TOP program and drive meaningful benefits from using new technologies to serve customers in new ways and run the bank better," he said.

Citizens' total assets stand at $218.31 billion. The bank operates about 1,000 branches across 14 states and the District of Columbia.