Citizens Bank to Buy $7.5B Clarfeld Financial Advisors

Citizens Bank is buying Clarfeld Financial Advisors, a wealth group in Tarrytown, New York, with a total of $7.5 billion of assets under management and administration. 

Citizens Bank has about $26.5 billion of total assets today, including $7.2 billion within its Private Wealth Management platform. Thus, the deal means Citizens Bank and Clarfeld could work with over $34 billion of total client assets, once the transaction closes — which is likely to be either late this year or early next year.

“The Clarfeld acquisition provides a unique opportunity to accelerate our strategy of building a highly competitive wealth management business that is well-positioned to offer a comprehensive range of wealth management and banking services to existing and future clients,” according to Citizens Bank Wealth Management President and CEO John Bahnken.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Clarfeld team has been in business for 37 years and includes chartered financial analysts, CPAs, attorneys and certified financial planners; it works with high-net-worth and ultra-high net worth clients, their families and related entities.

“I am excited about leading the buildout of our combined private wealth platform,” said Robert A. Clarfeld, founder and CEO of the firm that bears his name, in a statement. “With a broader range of products and services, we will be well-positioned to provide an exceptional value proposition to existing and future clients.”

After the deal is wrapped up, the Clarfeld CEO will become head of Citizen-Clarfeld’s high-net-worth and ultra-high net worth businesses. In addition, Clarfeld will keep its brand name and become a division of Citizens Bank Wealth Management, while Citizens Bank Private Wealth Management will be integrated into Clarfeld.