JMP Group

Feb 23, 2023

Customers woke up to negative balances and over-charged transactions in both debits and deposits, leading to panic among those impacted. Published Feb. 23, 2023 Permission granted by Citizens Financial Group Hundreds of Citizens Bank customers woke up to negative account balances on Wednesday morning, with some claiming hundreds of dollars were missing, though none of them actually withdrew or spent the money, CBS Boston reported on Wednesday . Citizens Bank notified its customers  in a tweet Wednesday of potential technical problems pertaining to some accounts. The lender warned those affected by the issue not to publicly share their personal identifying details or account information as Twitter got flooded with customers venting their anger at the bank. Many claimed that charges from their Feb. 1 transactions were duplicated on Feb. 22, leading to the missing funds and overdraft fees, the CBS Boston reported. There is no evidence that the technical issue that showed duplicate transactions in some customer accounts was due to a cyberattack, a Citizens Bank spokesperson told Banking Dive in an email. The duplicate transactions were in both debits and deposits, according to the bank. "Yesterday, Citizens experienced a technical issue that showed duplicate transactions in some customer accounts," said Rory Sheehan, head of enterprise communications at Citizens Financial Group. "As of this morning the issue is resolved. Any fees customers incurred because of this incident will be rebated. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused." The Providence, Rhode Island-based lender was in the news last month when it announced that it would continue to cut back in the auto lending space. Citizens Bank aims to scale its portfolio in that section back to between $5 billion and $6 billion, which is a decline from a December 2021 high of $14.5 billion to approximately $10 billion at present. “We are being very selective on where we are extending credit given the potential for recession in 2023,” said CEO Bruce Van Saun. “We believe that most banks recognize the growing risks in auto lending outside of the super prime segment.” In recent years, the lender has been ramping up its business in its private wealth front by acquiring 80 East Coast branches from HSBC and made a separate $3.5 billion purchase of New Jersey-based Investors Bancorp. In 2021, Citizens Bank bought investment banking and asset management firm JMP Group and valuation consulting firm Willamette Management Associates. “We’ve made no secret that we’re seeking other wealth platforms,” Van Saun told American Banker in the fall of 2021.