← Embedded Finance Index 2026

First Citizens Bank

“Can a century-old family-controlled community bank transform into a full-service national commercial bank by integrating SVB's tech franchise and CIT's commercial capabilities without losing the relationship-banking culture that differentiates it?”

Founded1898
HQRaleigh, North Carolina, US
IndustryBank / National
The story

Founded in 1898 as a community bank in North Carolina, First Citizens BancShares grew steadily through organic expansion and acquisitions across the Southeastern US. The acquisition of CIT Group in 2022 transformed it into a Fortune 500 commercial bank with significant middle-market lending and factoring capabilities. The opportunistic FDIC-assisted acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023 added a prominent tech/startup division and meaningfully elevated its national profile. Today the bank is integrating these legacy franchises under a unified brand while expanding embedded banking (First Citizens Link), wealth management (Betterment at Work partnership), and working capital finance offerings.

Last 12 months
2026-08
Product timeline
1898
Founded as a community bank in North Carolina.· banking
2022
Completed acquisition of CIT Group, significantly expanding commercial banking and factoring capabilities.· acquisition
2023
Acquired Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) from the FDIC following SVB's collapse, adding a major technology/startup-focused banking division.· acquisition
2026
Launched Working Capital Finance Group, consolidating factoring, asset-based lending, supply chain finance, and receivables businesses from legacy CIT Commercial Services.· lending
Acquisitions
Silicon Valley Bank2023
Acquired Silicon Valley Bank via FDIC-assisted transaction following SVB's failure, adding a major technology and innovation economy banking division.
CIT Group2022
Acquired CIT Group, expanding commercial banking, equipment finance, and factoring capabilities and vaulting First Citizens into Fortune 500 status.
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by First Citizens Bank
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
5 layers disclosed in First Citizens Bank’s embedded-finance stack
Card network
VisaMastercardDiscoverAmerican Express
Lending
in the full report
Open banking
in the full report
Investing
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
16 more providers across 4 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.