A US-based retail and commercial banking company. It has been one of the main financial backers of private prison company CoreCivic.
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is a retail and commercial banking company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. In 2022, the company operated more than 1,100 branches across 14 U.S. states and generated $8 billion in revenue.
Citizens Financial Group subsidiary Citizens Bank has been one of several major financiers of private prison and immigrant detention companies, having provided revolving lines of credit, term loans, and bond underwriting services to CoreCivic. While other private prison financiers announced in 2019 that they would exit their relationships with private prison companies, Citizens Bank has made no such announcement.
In March 2024, CoreCivic issued $450 million of bonds, with a maturity date of 2029. Citizens JMP Securities, LLC, owned by Citizens Financial Group, is the lead underwriter of the bond.
In 2022, CoreCivic signed a credit agreement to replace a 2018 $1 billion credit facility. Citizens Bank was part of the 2018 agreement, having provided a $96 million revolving line of credit and a $24 million term loan. Unlike in previous years, public disclosures regarding the 2022 agreement only named the administrative agent, Alter Domus. While other lenders are also involved, they were not named. Therefore, Citizens Bank's current involvement in CoreCivic's credit facility is unclear.
The bank's known past involvement includes:
- In October 2017, CoreCivic issued $250 million of bonds, with a maturity date of 2027. As part of a syndicate of banks, Citizens Bank subsidiary Citizens Capital Markets, Inc. underwrote an undisclosed proportion of these bonds.