A Silicon Valley Bank branch in Cambridge's Kendall Square. Banker & Tradesman photo / File
First Citizens Bank will finally plant its flag in Greater Boston roughly a year after buying Silicon Valley Bank following the latter’s March 2023 collapse.
Bank spokesperson John Moran confirmed the plans in an email to Banker & Tradesman. The story was first reported by the Boston Business Journal.
“The integration and the brand transition of SVB Private to First Citizens Wealth will take place throughout 2024. All SVB Private branches will be rebranded as First Citizens Bank branches over the course of 2024, and will continue to provide the same wealth advisory services to our clients,” Moran said.
The bank’s Boston-area branches were all former Boston Private Bank & Trust branches acquired along with Boston Private in 2021. Following its acquisition of SVB last year, First Citizens split the bank into a wealth management arm – SVB Private, whose branding was applied to SVB’s existing Boston-area storefronts – and SVB Commercial, a commercial bank focused on startups and other parts of the innovation economy.
The branches being rebranded are in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, at 336 Washington St. in Wellesley, 450 Boylston St. and 57 Enon St. in Beverly. The move follows the combination of SVB Private’s and First Citizens‘ wealth management leadership teams last year and executives’ pledges to run SVB Commercial as a largely independent unit with its own culture.
SVB Commercial continues to be a force in banking the region’s tech sector, despite losing substantial deposits to other local banks as companies in its previously-concentrated deposit base sought to diversify where they kept their money. While SVB’s deposits were down in the fourth quarter of 2023, First Citizens executives said that was due to startups burning through cash amid a tight market for investor financing, not deposit flight.
The SVB Private wealth management arm has also suffered somewhat from competition, along with JP Morgan Chase’s local wealth team, which incorporated the former First Republic Bank wealth team after than bank failed last year, as well. Berkshire Bank hired then-SVB Private managing director David J. Coughlin, while Citizens lured away 50 former First Republic wealth managers from Chase.
