'Reimagine the Bank': a $300 million, three-year AI-led overhaul with a $450 million payoff, on the first super-regional to move its whole mainframe to the cloud.
How is Citizens using AI?
Citizens has given its AI strategy a name, a budget and a return: 'Reimagine the Bank', a three-year, roughly $300 million program launched in 2025 to redesign how it serves customers and runs the bank with generative and agentic AI, expected to deliver $450 million of run-rate benefits — and, the bank stresses, not needed to hit its profitability targets. The foundation is unusual for a regional: CIO Michael Ruttledge says Citizens is the first super-regional to move its entire mainframe and every application to the cloud, and it has used generative AI to rewrite legacy code, including a mortgage system moved in six weeks. The results it reports are concrete: CiZi, the mobile assistant, cut app-related call volume 44%; new-account opening time fell by half; coding output is up 10% overall and 55% for engineers using advanced agents; GitHub Copilot's coding agent went to about 800 developers. President Brendan Coughlin, now positioned as the next CEO, says the pace of AI change is 'overwhelming' and that the technology is 'here and present right now'.
Lead bank
Citizens Bank, N.A.
Assets (lead bank, Mar 31, 2026)
$227 billion
Charter
National bank (OCC)
Headquarters
Providence, RI
Flagship platform
CiZi and the cloud-native core
AI leadership
Brendan Coughlin · Michael Ruttledge · Bruce Van Saun · Krish Swamy · Aunoy Banerjee · Mark Valentino
- Reimagine the Bank: launched 2025, about three years and $300 million, targeting $450 million of run-rate benefits by 2028; CEO Bruce Van Saun says profit goals do not depend on it.
- Cloud-first foundation: 700 applications migrated in four years; the last mainframe being retired — 'no one has done that, not even banks like Capital One', per the CIO.
- Results reported: CiZi cut mobile-related call volume 44%; new-account opening time down 50%; engineering output +10% overall, +55% for engineers on advanced agents; GitHub Copilot's coding agent rolled to ~800 developers, half the engineering staff.
- Legacy rewrite: generative AI converts old code to modern languages — a mortgage system with millions of lines rewritten and moved to the cloud in six weeks.
- Governance in the proxy: the 2026 proxy statement tells shareholders the bank 'will utilize new technologies like artificial intelligence and agentic artificial intelligence to enhance how we serve customers and how we run the bank'.
- Leadership: President Brendan Coughlin runs all business lines and the AI-led overhaul; his July 2026 expanded role positions him as the next CEO.
- Investor-deck milestones: LLMs in the call centre targeting ~25% of calls handled without a human by year-end 2026 and ~50% over time; GenAI for private-company credit research; AI agents re-architecting the back office; a first enterprise-wide AI-chat agent (Q1 and Q2 2026 earnings presentations).
- Benefit path reaffirmed each quarter: ~$100 million pre-tax run-rate by year-end 2026, ~$200 million-plus by 2027, ~$450 million-plus by 2028; implementation costs of $6 million in Q1 and about $7 million in Q2 2026.
- Open AI roles on its careers site include a distinguished engineer for AI security, one for non-human and agentic identity, and a lead product owner for the AI platform (listed below, as of 24 September 2026).
What is CiZi and the cloud-native core?
CiZi, the AI assistant in the Citizens mobile app, has cut mobile-banking call volume by 44%. Behind it, CIO Michael Ruttledge's team migrated 700 applications over four years and is unplugging the last mainframe — 'the first super-regional bank to move its entire mainframe and every business application into the cloud' — which is what lets generative and agentic AI run across operations under the Reimagine the Bank program.[2][1]
What has Citizens done on AI, and when?
- Sep 29, 2026
Q4 2026 Business Pulse: small-business AI spending rising[29]
Citizens' survey finds 30% of businesses plan to increase Q4 tech/AI spending (up from 23% in Q3); 94% of businesses using AI regularly across multiple functions have cut or eliminated spending on external services, most on marketing (60%), data analysis/reporting (39%) and bookkeeping (38%); heavy AI users are far more optimistic on revenue (74% vs 54% overall) and hiring (44% vs 22%).
- Sep 29, 2026
Coughlin: engineers now 30-40% more productive with AI[28]
American Banker reports the average Citizens engineer is 30% to 40% more productive than a year earlier under the three-year, $300 million Reimagine the Bank project; Coughlin says the role is evolving toward engineers overseeing multiple AI agents, and that AI-existential-risk warnings have 'not really' changed the project's direction.
- Sep 23, 2026
Coughlin plays down AI-bubble risk to the bank[27]
President Brendan Coughlin tells American Banker that even an AI slowdown would not derail Citizens because non-AI sectors of the US economy remain solid.
- Sep 14, 2026
No M&A 'distraction' from Reimagine the Bank[24]
Van Saun at the Barclays conference: nothing to buy would make a dramatic difference while the private bank and the AI program run.
- Sep 2, 2026
Unifying business, private banking and wealth[10]
Product, technology and geographic investments to spin the 'massive flywheel' faster.
- Jul 24, 2026
Van Saun on going 'big' with AI[23]
A three-year push to see how AI could improve each core activity, 50 initiatives, run like an airport control tower.
- Jul 16, 2026
Q2 2026: AI agents in the back office, a 10x engineering pilot[17][20][22][21]
Back-office re-architecture with AI agents orchestrating end-to-end workflows, AI case classification, AI in credit-card contact centres and a first enterprise-wide AI-chat agent; about $7 million of program costs in the quarter.
- Jul 8, 2026
- Jun 1, 2026
The mainframe goes: CIO's cloud-first claim[2]
700 applications migrated; CiZi −44% call volume; +55% output for engineers on advanced agents.
- Apr 16, 2026
- Mar 27, 2026
- Mar 5, 2026
Proxy statement: AI and agentic AI in how the bank is run[11]
Reimagine the Bank described to shareholders.
- Feb 12, 2026
10-K flags generative AI and LLMs as a security risk[14]
Risk factors name generative AI and large language models among evolving threats, and AI as a change that could transform how banks offer products.
- Jan 21, 2026
Q4 2025 deck: ~50 initiatives in five themes[15][18]
Software productivity with AI, AI fraud detection, an 'AI Powered Banker' and KYC/AML streamlining among them; two-thirds of the benefit from expenses, about 5% of the 2025 expense base; call-centre modernisation and voice AI discussed on the call.
- Jan 21, 2026
Tech overhaul laid out: $450 million of run-rate benefits[5]
Three-year revamp; not baked into return guidance.
- Dec 16, 2025
The Banker's US Bank of the Year[25]
The award cites AI-driven productivity tools, integrated developer platforms and digital account opening.
- Dec 1, 2025
Inside the plan: 47 use cases in execution[3]
Ruttledge: 'a lot of proof of concepts… where there's manual processes today that we think we can automate.'
- Nov 20, 2025
GitHub Copilot's coding agent to ~800 developers[4]
Half the software developers; fintech partners rewriting legacy systems for the cloud.
- Aug 6, 2025
'First inning' of AI in business banking[9]
AI not yet in the online banking platform; exploring applications, per the head of business banking.
- Jul 1, 2025
Van Saun: 'reimagining the bank with AI in mind'[3]
The objective, set out on the Q2 2025 call, is to redesign how the bank serves customers and runs itself with gen and agentic AI.
Where does Citizens use AI today?
| System | What it does | Status | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|
| CiZi[2][12] | Mobile-app AI assistant; call volume down 44%. | In production | Customer-facing chatbots |
| Coding agents[4][2] | GitHub Copilot's agent for ~800 developers; +55% output for advanced-agent users. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| Legacy code conversion[4] | Gen AI rewrites old code for the cloud; mortgage system in six weeks. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| Frontline AI tools[2] | Account opening time halved for frontline staff. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| Payment-fraud defence[13] | Head of fraud on AI deepfakes, BEC and bank impersonation. | In production | Fraud detection |
| LLM call-centre automation[16][17][19] | Targeting ~25% of calls handled without human interaction by year-end 2026 and ~50% over time; AI also in the credit-card contact centres. | Rolling out | Customer-facing chatbots |
| Back-office AI agents[17] | AI agents orchestrating end-to-end workflows to cut manual tasks; AI case classification for client inquiries. | Pilot | Generative & agentic AI |
| GenAI credit research and monitoring[16][17] | Automating credit research and portfolio monitoring of private companies; an AI pilot for commercial prospecting, deal research and pitch creation. | Pilot | Credit scoring & underwriting |
| Enterprise AI-chat agent[17] | The first enterprise-wide AI-chat agent, starting with HR content for colleagues. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| AI in the 10-K risk factors[14] | Generative AI and LLMs as an information-security risk; AI as a potentially transformative competitive change. | In production | Model risk management |
| Business Pulse survey research on client AI adoption[29] | Quarterly small-business survey tracking AI spending and adoption among Citizens' commercial clients. | In production | AI governance (general) |
Use-case links open the tracker's rules-by-use-case matrix: which documents govern each system type.
Which AI vendors and fintechs does Citizens work with?
| Company | What Citizens uses it for | Status | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot | GitHub Copilot's coding agent rolled out to about half the bank's software developers, 800 people. | In production | Enterprise AI assistants |
Each vendor and fintech page cites the source for the relationship, and vendor pages list products, pricing and other bank customers. Compare AI tools for banks by category, or read the fintech and neobank AI dossiers.
What has Citizens disclosed in numbers?
| Metric | Value | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Reimagine the Bank | ≈ $300 million over ≈ 3 years; $450 million run-rate benefit[1][5] | Mar 27, 2026 |
| CiZi effect on call volume | −44%[2] | Jun 1, 2026 |
| Engineering output | +10% overall; +55% with advanced agents[2] | Jun 1, 2026 |
| Developers with coding agents | ≈ 800 (half)[4] | Nov 20, 2025 |
| Applications migrated to cloud | 700 in four years[2] | Jun 1, 2026 |
| Total assets | $227.9 billion[26] | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Reimagine pre-tax run-rate benefit path | ≈ $100 million (YE2026); ≈ $200 million+ (YE2027); ≈ $450 million+ (YE2028)[17] | Jul 16, 2026 |
| Calls handled without a human (target) | ≈ 25% by YE2026; ≈ 50% over time[16] | Apr 16, 2026 |
| Reimagine implementation costs | $6 million (Q1 2026); ≈ $7 million (Q2 2026)[19][21] | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Engineering productivity in AI coding pilots | 30% to 10x (Q1 2026 call); 10x expected (Q2 2026 deck)[19][17] | Jul 16, 2026 |
| Average engineer productivity gain (Reimagine the Bank) | 30%-40% more productive than a year earlier[28] | Sep 29, 2026 |
“The technology is in a spot at the moment where it's not hopes and dreams. It's here and present right now, and we're leveraging it.”[1]
Brendan Coughlin · President · Mar 27, 2026
“We are the first super-regional bank to move its entire mainframe and every business application into the cloud.”[2]
Michael Ruttledge · CIO · Jun 1, 2026
“We have our neck out on the guillotine a little bit, but that focuses attention when you put a public target out there.”[23]
Bruce Van Saun · Chairman and CEO · Jul 24, 2026
“Even outside the AI economy, the non-AI sectors of the U.S. are still solid. So even with an AI slowdown — if it happened, which I don't expect it will — it could take a little bit of the air out of the balloon, but the rest of the U.S. economy is still on pretty solid ground.”[27]
Brendan Coughlin · President · Sep 23, 2026
“the average engineer at Citizens is now 30% to 40% more productive than they had been a year ago.”[28]
Brendan Coughlin · President · Sep 29, 2026
“Contrary to some headlines, we are not seeing AI fatigue. In fact, we may still be in the early innings of AI helping small businesses play bigger than their size.”[29]
Mark Valentino · Head of Business Banking · Sep 29, 2026
Who runs AI at Citizens?
Brendan CoughlinLinkedIn ↗
President; leads all business lines and the Reimagine the Bank program[6][1]
Michael RuttledgeLinkedIn ↗
Bruce Van Saun
Chairman and CEO[5]
Krish SwamyLinkedIn ↗
Chief Data and Analytics Officer[7]
Aunoy Banerjee
Chief Financial Officer; reports the Reimagine the Bank benefit path to investors[20]
Mark Valentino
Head of Business Banking[29]
What AI roles is Citizens hiring for?
6 open AI-related postings on Citizens's careers site as of Oct 1, 2026. A snapshot of current openings, not a source: postings close.
Distinguished Engineer - Non Human & Agentic Identity
United States · posted Sep 4, 2026
Lead Product Owner, AI Platform
United States · posted Aug 25, 2026
Principal Security Engineer - AI Data Protection
United States · posted Aug 7, 2026
Distinguished Engineer - AI Security
United States · posted Jul 20, 2026
Distinguished Engineer - AI Security
United States · posted Jul 20, 2026
Principal Security Engineer -DLP AI Security Automation
United States · posted Jun 19, 2026
Which regulators govern Citizens's AI?
| Authority | Why it matters here | Documents |
|---|---|---|
| OCC | National bank; the revised model risk guidance and the OCC's gen-AI posture apply to a program this broad. | OCC Bulletin 2026-13 OCC Semiannual Risk Perspective, Spring 2026 |
| CFPB | CiZi is a consumer chatbot and account opening is automated; UDAAP, the chatbot spotlight and ECOA apply. | CFPB Chatbots in Consumer Finance (issue spotlight, 2023) ECOA / Regulation B adverse action (15 U.S.C. 1691(d); 12 CFR 1002.9) |
| FinCEN | Automating 85% of KYC/AML/BSA decisions at onboarding sits inside the BSA/AML program rule. | 2026 AML/CFT Program Proposed Rule |
| Federal Reserve | Cloud, Infosys and GitHub are third-party relationships under interagency guidance. | SR 23-4 |
| NY DFS | New York expansion and Part 500 obligations for DFS-licensed activities. | 23 NYCRR Part 500 |
Side by side: SR 11-7 vs SR 26-2 · OCC vs CFPB on AI lending · PRA SS1/23 vs SR 26-2 · all comparisons.
What does the public record suggest about Citizens's AI strategy?
Analysis by BankingNewsAI from the sources cited on this page. Observations, not advice.
01
The cloud claim is the real differentiator
Retiring the last mainframe removes the constraint that keeps most regionals' AI at the edges. If the claim holds, Citizens can run agents on core processes years before peers.
02
Automating 85% of onboarding decisions concentrates BSA/AML risk in a vendor rule-set
The efficiency is real; the question examiners will ask is who owns the decision logic and how exceptions are reviewed.
03
A program 'not needed to hit targets' is a hedge that can turn into a promise
Keeping $450 million out of guidance protects credibility now; investors will expect it to show up by 2028.
04
The next CEO is the AI program's owner
Coughlin's expanded role ties succession to the overhaul's success — an unusually direct link between AI execution and leadership.
What is Citizens' Reimagine the Bank program?
Reimagine the Bank is Citizens Financial Group's three-year, roughly $300 million initiative, launched in 2025, to redesign how it serves customers and runs the bank using generative and agentic AI. The bank expects about $450 million of run-rate benefits by 2028 and says its profitability targets do not depend on them. President Brendan Coughlin leads it.
How much of Citizens' call-centre volume will AI handle?
Citizens told investors in April 2026 that it is incorporating large-language-model functionality into call-centre operations, targeting about 25% of calls handled without human interaction by the end of 2026 and about 50% over time. In July 2026 it added AI tools in its credit-card contact centres.
What is CiZi?
CiZi is the AI-powered assistant built into the Citizens mobile app. It walks customers through tasks such as updating information, checking balances and reporting lost cards, and the bank says it has reduced mobile-banking-related call volume by 44%.
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- 1Q26 Earnings Presentation (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.2)
- 2Q26 Earnings Presentation (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.2)
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