Citizens Bank Mobilizes AI to Target $450 Million Operational Savings by 2028

Citizens Bank parent company Citizens Financial Group learned in a pilot program that its deployment of software tools across its engineering teams is likely to deliver a 10x boost in engineering productivity.

That’s one example of the early results the bank is seeing from its technology-focused strategic initiative “Reimagine the Bank,” according to executives’ comments during a Thursday (July 16) second quarter earnings call and a financial results presentation released in conjunction with the call.

“The objective is to position Citizens for long-term success by embracing a host of new and innovative technologies across the bank and simplifying our business model,” Citizens Financial Group Chief Financial Officer Aunoy Banerjee said during the call. “This will reshape our customer experience and drive a meaningful improvement in productivity and efficiency.”

Citizens is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, and offers retail, private banking, wealth management and commercial banking products and services. Its consumer banking business has about 1,000 branches in 14 states and the District of Columbia, according to a Thursday earnings press release.

As part of its Reimagine the Bank initiative, in its consumer business, Citizens has introduced artificial intelligence solutions in its credit card contact centers to help resolve client queries, rolled out new digital tools to make it easier for customers to join the bank, and launched a pilot to automatically log complaints and improve root-cause analysis, according to the presentation.

In its commercial business, the bank launched an AI pilot to enhance client prospecting, deal research and pitch creation; began rebuilding its back office with AI agents to reduce manual tasks; and launched an AI Case Classification for client inquiries that will enable faster routing and case handling as well as improved analysis.

Citizens also launched an enterprise-wide AI-chat agent that will initially deliver human resources (HR) contact, per the presentation.

“Reimagine the Bank is moving along nicely,” Citizens Financial Group Chairman and CEO Bruce Van Saun said during the call. “We are excited about how several of our early AI deployments are having real impact on how we operate and how we serve customers.”

Reimagine the Bank is meeting the original financial targets Citizens provided in January and is expected to deliver a pre-tax run-rate benefit of about $100 million by year-end 2026, $200 million by year-end 2027 and $450 million by year-end 2028, according to the presentation.

Banerjee said during the call: “Several workstreams are well underway, and we expect to hit our financial targets for the program with a minimal net cost for 2026 as we realize quick wins to cover implementation costs.”