In September 2014, Citizens Financial Group (CFG: NYSE) became a publicly-traded company in the largest commercial bank initial public offering (IPO) in U.S. history. The offering resulted in the sale of 161 million shares, or ~$3.5 billion of common stock, which equaled a 28.8% ownership stake in the firm. The IPO represented an important step in CFG's planned separation from RBS Group, which has announced its plans to monetize its remaining ownership stake in CFG by the end of 2016. Built on the principle that we succeed only when our customers succeed, Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the oldest and largest financial services firms in the United States. Our history dates back to High Street Bank, founded in 1828, which established Citizens Savings Bank in 1871. By 1981, we had grown to 29 branches in Rhode Island with approximately $1.0 billion of assets. In 1988 we became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBS Group.
