First Citizens Bancshares Inc, headquartered in North Carolina, USA, is a bank holding company with its primary subsidiary being First Citizens Bank. The company operates an extensive network of 550 branches across 22 states, with assets worth $109 billion as of December 31, 2022.
Following its acquisition of the commercial banking business of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023, this move resulted in a substantial growth in assets, nearly doubling the bank’s total to an impressive $219 billion.
In recent reports, First Citizens Bank has reportedly laid off nearly 500 employees from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), just two months after acquiring the troubled lender. According to Axios, an American news organization, the CEO of First Citizens Bank, Frank Holding Jr., stated in the email that none of the eliminated positions were client-facing roles, and there were no job cuts among the India-based support staff.
The decision to downsize was attributed to the challenges faced by SVB earlier in 2023, emphasizing the need for First Citizens to re-evaluate and optimize its scope and scale in order to remain competitive in the industry.
It is worth noting that earlier in March, HSBC UK Bank plc acquired the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank for $1.2, in a move to prevent Insolvency. This strategic acquisition ensured the safety of deposits for numerous British tech firms that had entrusted their funds with SVB.
