Frank Holding Jr., who became CEO in January 2008, confirmed he's scouting for another deal, in line with earlier reporting. He'd rather swing at something bigger to bulk up scale and revenue as costs rise with stricter oversight at higher size thresholds. He's flexible on markets and business lines as long as the target has tight customer relationships, and he believes First Citizens can ultimately double in size.
"We think of ourselves as value creators, not asset acquirers," he said in a recent interview. "What's important to us is whether a deal makes financial sense."
Holding has a habit of moving fast when windows open. In 2022 he started with cold calls to rival bosses, including then CIT Group CEO Ellen Alemany, and sealed an all-stock acquisition of CIT for $2.2 billion. "Ellen didn't know me until that morning," he recalled. She later joined First Citizens' board.
The deal paid off quickly: in the first quarter of 2022, First Citizens booked an accounting gain of $431 million because the acquired assets topped the consideration paid, and it bought CIT at 44% of tangible book. CIT's railcar leasing and financing arm has been a meaningful contributor, with lease income reaching $337 million in the second quarter. The added heft and reach from CIT also positioned First Citizens to take on an even larger target in 2023, when it snagged a deeply discounted Silicon Valley Bank during the regional banking turmoil. That outcome followed a competitive bidding process in which First Citizens battled rivals including PNC Financial Services Group and Citizens Financial Group, and it helped that the Holding family owns more than 23% of the company.
Not everyone thought the CIT fit was obvious at first.
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The Holding family's roots run deep. R.P. Holding became president and chairman in 1935 after joining the predecessor bank in 1918. Today, Frank Holding Jr. and his four sisters together own more than 23% of the company, which Bloomberg data values at roughly $24 billion. One sister's husband, Peter Brislow, is president of the company and owns 0.6% of its shares. Family control at a bank this size is unusual, and Holding says it lets him make decisions quickly at the negotiating table. Reflecting on the Silicon Valley Bank process, he said, "Being closely held allowed us to be extremely nimble in the process."
The family is a fixture in North Carolina business circles, with relatives also owning stakes and serving on the boards of Fidelity BancShares and Southern BancShares. Holding sits on the Mt. Olive Pickle Co. board and, for 2026, serves on the Federal Advisory Council that advises the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
First Citizens has grown deal by deal. After taking the helm amid the financial crisis, Holding carved out a niche buying failed lenders, acquiring 14 banks between 2009 and 2017 in FDIC-assisted processes, alongside about a dozen open-market purchases after 2009. The strategy shows up in the rankings: as of the end of June, First Citizens is No. 18 among U.S. banks, up from No. 41 in 2021.
CIT expanded its commercial lending reach beyond the Southeast, and in this month's deal, First Citizens finalized buying 138 branches from Bank of Montreal's U.S. subsidiary to extend its presence in the West. "I only wish they could have sold more," Holding said.
Closer to home, it's now the third-largest bank in North Carolina, behind Bank of America and Truist Financial. The bank's performance has also lifted Holding's personal net worth past $1 billion, Bloomberg's Billionaires Index reports, which is assessing his wealth for the first time. The signal for regular investors is straightforward: management wants another sizable deal, and if it happens, it could again reshape where the company grows next.
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