Citizens Financial's quarterly profit rises on higher fees, interest income

PNC Financial Services

17/07/2025 12:01

July 17 (Reuters) - Citizens Financial CFG.N on Thursday reported a higher second-quarter profit, helped by higher fee income and lower deposit costs.

Wall Street sentiments have reversed since early April when the global trade war, triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats, soiled financial markets and scuttled dealmaking to a 20-year low.

The lender's results mirror those of peer PNC Financial PNC.N, which on Wednesday reported a rise in quarterly profit as well.

Citizens reported total non-interest income of $600 million for the three months ended June 30, up from $553 million a year ago.

Its net interest income — the difference between what banks pay customers on deposits and earn as interest on loans — rose nearly 2% to $1.44 billion from a year earlier, reflecting lower funding costs.

The bank's provisions for credit losses fell 10% to $164 million in the second quarter, underscoring confidence in consumer health. Peer M&T Bank MTB.N also reported lower rainy day funds.

While Citizens' capital market fees fell 21.6% to $105 million, its wealth fees, which also reflect its growing private banking unit, rose 17% to $88 million.

"We saw some sizable M&A advisory fees push out to July, but offset that with strong performance across other fee categories," Chairman and CEO Bruce Van Saun said.

The bank has "larger M&A pipelines than we've ever had," Don McCree, Citizens' Head of Commercial Banking, said at the Morgan Stanley Financials Conference last month.

Citizens reported quarterly profit of $436 million, or 92 cents per share, up from $392 million, or 78 cents, a year earlier.

Its shares have risen over 7.3% in 2025, as of last close, compared with a 10.7% gain in the KBW Bank .BKX index.

 (Reporting by Ateev Bhandari in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)

 ((Ateev.Bhandari@thomsonreuters.com;))