Citizens Financial Group announced the appointment of John F. Woods as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He will serve on the company’s Executive Committee and report to Chairman and CEO Bruce Van Saun. Woods joins Citizens from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG), where he has served as CFO of the Americas since 2013. Prior to that, he served as Vice Chairman and CFO for the predecessor company of MUFG Union Bank, N.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of MUFG. Woods also has held senior finance leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac).
Woods will join Citizens on Feb.13, 2017, and will succeed interim CFO John Fawcett effective March 4, 2017. As previously announced, Fawcett will assume the interim CFO role on Dec. 17, 2016, following the departure of current Citizens CFO Eric Aboaf.
Chairman and CEO Bruce Van Saun commented: "We are extremely pleased to welcome John to the leadership team as our new CFO. He has a broad background in financial services, including experience in regional banking with MUFG Union Bank. John will hit the ground running in terms of contributing to our strategy, balance sheet management, efficiency initiatives and business partnership, as well as providing experienced leadership to our Finance function."
Woods added, “I’m thrilled to join Citizens and contribute to a growth plan that is already delivering strong value for Citizens stakeholders. This is a very exciting time for Citizens and I look forward to partnering closely with Bruce and the leadership team to help drive further success.”
As CFO, Woods will have responsibility for the business line finance groups and for the company’s Financial Planning and Analysis, Controller, Investor Relations, Strategy, Treasury, Tax and Capital Management functions.
John F. Woods is joining Citizens Financial Group as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from MUFG, where he served as CFO of the Americas since 2013. He previously served as Vice Chairman and CFO for the predecessor company of MUFG Union Bank since December 2009. Prior to that, Woods was CFO of the Home Lending business at JPMorgan Chase and at Washington Mutual, a predecessor entity. Before that he held senior financial positions at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), including CFO of the Funding & Investment Division and Corporate Controller.
Woods began his financial career in 1986 with Arthur Andersen in Washington, D.C., where he rose to partner in the financial and risk consulting group during his 16 years with the firm.
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $147 billion in assets as of September 30, 2016. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions.