Citizens Financial Group, the Providence, R.I.-based parent of Citizens Bank with about $223 billion in assets, has expanded its private wealth business in Southern California with the addition of an $880 million team led by Eric Bradley, formerly of Citi Private Alternatives.
Based in Newport Beach, Calif., Bradley Wealth Partners will focus on serving next-generation and ultra-high-net-worth clients on the West Coast. The team includes Bradley as wealth manager and Megan Dia as associate wealth manager, a duo that has worked together for eight years. They will continue to offer similar services, including financial planning, private banking and commercial banking.
Citizens has been pushing to expand its private wealth advisor headcount and assets under management, particularly in Southern California. The financial services firm recently acquired a team from Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch, also based in Newport Beach, as well as a nine-person team in Beverly Hills.
In June, it brought on a team in New York that had been managing $1.5 billion in assets for Flagstar Advisors.
Those efforts align with a company-wide initiative to expand its private bank and wealth divisions. In its first quarter earnings report, the firm said it had increased salaries and employee benefits by $22 million, partly “reflecting hiring related to the Private Bank and Private Wealth build-out.”
Citizens did not immediately respond to a request for the number of financial advisors currently on staff. Many publicly listed firms with advisors have stopped regularly reporting those numbers in a competitive market for talent. In its 2024 annual report, Citizens reported that its wealth division accounted for $28 billion in AUM, up 21% year-over-year.
Wealth manager Bradley will work with Victor Mena, executive market director at Citizens Private Bank, and others in the Newport Beach office, including recent addition Kris Reddaway, who had been managing about $900 million in client assets for Merrill.
