Months after Citizens Financial Group of Providence, R.I., lost the rights to the Citizens name in two western Pennsylvania counties, the Royal Bank of Scotland unit says it will no longer have to rename its branches in the counties.
Instead, its opponent in the dispute, the $444 million-asset Citizens National Bank of Evans City, Pa., has agreed to rename its 15 branches in Butler County and northern Allegany County, where the Royal Bank of Scotland unit has 16 branches.
The settlement was announced Friday and ended a nearly four-year legal battle. Shortly after the Royal Bank unit acquired the retail offices of Mellon Financial Corp. in 2001, the Evans City bank sued it to block its use of Citizens in its name in overlapping markets.
In September a U.S. appeals court ruled in the favor of the Evans City bank. And after the Supreme Court declined to hear the case in May, the Royal Bank unit said it would rename the 16 branches Charter One. Citizens acquired Charter One Financial Inc. of Cleveland in August and kept the Charter One name in the Midwest.
