Citizens Financial : Bank names Christine Roberts Head of Student Lending

06/14/2016

PROVIDENCE, R.I.- Citizens Bank today announced the appointment of Christine Roberts as Head of Student Lending. A 27-year veteran of the finance services industry, Roberts will oversee Citizens Student Lending, which helps students pay for college by offering the most borrowing options of any lender, including refinancing of both private and federal student loans.

'The long-term cost of college continues to be a major challenge for students, and we are pleased to have a leader with Christine's experience managing this important part of our business,' said Brendan Coughlin, president of Student Lending for Citizens Bank. 'Student lending is a strategic priority for Citizens and Christine's experience will be instrumental in driving its continued growth.'

Roberts has held several leadership roles at the company, in areas including sales, branch planning and operations and product management. . Previously, Roberts served as the vice president of Marketing at Northeast Bank and held several marketing and product management positions with Fidelity Investments and Fleet Bank. Roberts earned her BS from Bentley University and her MS in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University.

Citizens provides several options for consumers looking to pay for school including the Student Loan for Parents, an alternative to federal loans designed for parents looking to help their children pay for college. With no origination fee, the Student Loan for Parents will save families an estimated average of $637 in annual fees alone and also guarantees approved borrowers receive a lower interest rate than the federal William D. Ford Direct PLUS rate. The Citizens Bank Education Refinance Loanenables borrowers to refinance federal and private student loans. Since launching the Citizens Bank Education Refinance Loan, the average customer savings is $137 a month, meaning customers are saving thousands of dollars in interest payments over the life of their loans.

To learn more about Citizens Bank, customers can call the 24/7 customer contact center at 1-800-922-9999, Like the bank onFacebook, follow the bank onTwitteror visit theCitizens Bankwebsite.

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation's oldest and largest financial institutions, with $140.1 billion in assets as of March 31, 2016. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens helps its retail customers 'bank better' with mobile and online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,200 ATMs and approximately 1,200 Citizens Bank branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions.

Citizens also provides mortgage lending, auto lending, student lending and commercial banking services in select markets nationwide. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers corporate, institutional and not-for-profit clients a full range of wholesale banking products and services including lending and deposits, capital markets, treasury services, foreign exchange and interest hedging, leasing and asset finance, specialty finance and trade finance.

Citizens operates through its subsidiaries Citizens Bank, N.A. and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. Additional information about Citizens and its full line of products and services can be found at www.citizensbank.com.