Nearly a year after debuting a newly redesigned regional office in Palm Beach, Citizens Private Bank has grown local demand and adapted services to meet the needs of the island’s ultra-high-net-worth clients.
Since opening last spring, the Palm Beach branch at 400 Royal Palm Way has exceeded expectations, Executive Managing Director James Meany said. The office provides a full suite of services for high-net-worth clients, including wealth management, personal and business banking, customized lending, investment and asset management, and estate and trust planning.
“I am conservative by nature, so I don’t want to call myself a sandbagger, but the demand has been incredible,” Meany told the Daily News. “I attribute that mostly to this amazing team that we’ve assembled and a demand in a niche that is going mostly unmet with the money center banks. People are looking mostly to hold bankers accountable, and they strive for personal relationships and responsiveness.”
Citizens Private Bank, an offshoot of Citizens Financial Group — one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions — launched in 2023 with six private banking offices, including a temporary Palm Beach location at 420 Royal Palm Way.
Employees now occupy 11,000 square feet across two floors at 400 Royal Palm Way on the island’s renowned Bankers Row. The 7,000-square-foot third-floor suite, renovated from space formerly occupied by First Republic Bank, opened in April 2024, followed by a redesigned first-floor suite, once home to the Palm Beach Daily News, in May 2025. Palm Beach marked Citizens Private Bank’s first location in South Florida.
Meany said most of the branch’s clients are multi-generational families relocating from the Northeast or West Coast for tax, retirement or financial reasons.
“We focus on individuals,” he said. “We also cater to their business interests.”
The company also aims to provide “the full suite of services that integrated wealth management and a private bank can only do,” Meany said.
Technology and cybersecurity have been key areas of adaptation, Meany said. Younger clients want user-friendly digital solutions, while older clients require guidance on secure systems for wire transfers.
“Older clients might say, ‘Well, I don’t want this PIN number sort of approach to releasing a wire,’ and then they hear a story from a friend about wire fraud and say, ‘James, get me on that system,’” Meany said.
Community engagement also remains central to the branch’s approach. The bank has partnered with Glazer Hall, the Palm Beach Civic Association and the American Heart Association to provide clients with cultural and philanthropic opportunities.
“We’re really letting our clients lead us to the organizations that are important to them,” Meany said. “We’ve been really pleased with how Citizens is showing up, both from a volunteerism standpoint and as an active participant and donor.”
Meany said a large percentage of clients take advantage of the branch’s full offerings. “We had to bring the full integration of private banking to the table, and that’s what we’ve managed to do,” he said.
Looking ahead, Meany said Citizens is expanding its Florida footprint. Its West Palm Beach office at One Flagler Tower will open at the end of April, and the bank also plans to have a private office in Boca Raton by early 2027, along with a new wealth team in Naples.
“It’s really fulfilling that the organization is continuing to invest in our geography and the private bank and serving the needs of clients,” he said.
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Citizens Private Bank sees strong growth in Palm Beach
Reporting by Jodie Wagner, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
