Citizens Financial Group has entered the next phase of its West Coast expansion strategy, appointing a private banking team in Southern California, and announced plans to open new private bank offices in the region.

This move follows prior announcements regarding Citizens’ California development plan, which aims to serve the market in an integrated and comprehensive manner that fosters growth across Private Banking, Wealth Management, and Corporate & Investment Banking.

In an effort to expand its clientele, Citizens has launched two new Private Banking locations in Mill Valley and Downtown San Francisco, California.

These locations mark the bank’s first West Coast locations. The new offices of Citizens Private Bank offer high-net-worth individuals, families, businesses, entrepreneurs in the innovation economy, and charitable organisations comprehensive, personalised private banking and asset management services.

The sites stand out as centres of excellence within Citizens’ portfolio, delivering an assortment of tailored financial services suited to the unique needs of clients in the Northern California market. For their regular banking needs, all Citizens clients in the area are welcome to visit the new Private Banking locations.

In order to better serve the San Diego and Newport Beach regions, Citizens Private Bank has expanded its footprint by adding a highly skilled Private Banking staff to Southern California.

Victor Mena, a private bank market executive with deep ties in the area, substantial area expertise, and a track record of providing outstanding client service, leads the new team.

Mena will work with a group of seasoned bankers to increase Citizens Private Bank’s presence in California, reporting to Susan deTray, Head of the bank.

By the middle of 2025, Citizens Private Bank plans to open more Private Banking locations around California, notably in Newport Beach, San Diego, and Silicon Valley.

Susan deTray, head of Citizens Private Bank stated: “We’re pleased to continue executing against the Citizens Private Bank growth strategy with the opening of our first two Private Banking offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the addition of experienced bankers in Southern California. We look forward to deepening our presence and delivering a robust suite of comprehensive banking and wealth management services with an emphasis on personal relationships, extraordinary service, and tailored solutions and advice.”

“Citizens to expand and branch into California” was originally created and published by Private Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand.

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A Long Beach food bank closed its doors as state investigators looked into allegations that the nonprofit’s former CEO misused funds.

“The Foodbank of Southern California has fully investigated the allegations involving former CEO, Jeanne Cooper, both through internal and external investigations,” current CEO Brian Weaver said. “When these allegations were first brought to the attention of our board, we took them extremely seriously and immediately conducted an internal investigation, suspending Ms. Cooper pending the outcome.”

The Foodbank of Southern California, which opened in 1975, serves low-income neighborhoods across Los Angeles County, including Compton, San Pedro, Antelope Valley and North Long Beach. According to the nonprofit’s website, it earned awards for its “sound fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency.”

“After the preliminary findings revealed she had used Foodbank funds for personal benefit and for purposes unrelated to our operations or mission, she was permanently removed from her position,” Weaver said. “We also engaged an outside firm to conduct its own thorough investigation, and we are awaiting their final report.”

Weaver also stated that the nonprofit ceased all operations as the California Department of Social Services conducted its investigation. 

“For nearly 50 years, the Foodbank has played an integral role in our community, providing an average of 40 million pounds of food to over 1.9 million people in need each year,” he said. “We know how important our assistance is to so many here, and we are working hard to restore our complete services as soon as possible.”    

With the closure, Social Services said it will partner with other pantries to fill the gap left in Foodbank’s wake.

For California, the 2018 wildfire season marked the “deadliest and most destructive” one on record, fire officials say. But then-President Donald Trump reportedly nearly declined to approve federal aid because of the state’s political makeup.

Trump changed his mind, however, after he was shown voter registration data from Orange County where Republicans then had an edge over Democrats, Politico reported.

In a phone call Thursday, Mark Harvey, who served as a special assistant to the president for matters related to domestic crisis at the time, confirmed to the Southern California News Group the exchange reported by Politico. The former National Security Council employee is among the more than 100 former Republican national security officials who have backed Vice President Kamala Harris in this election.

In all, nearly 2 million acres burned in California in 2018 and 100 people died, according to Cal Fire. While Northern California was impacted the most, Southern California was hit with the Holy fire in August of that year, burning more than 23,000 acres in Orange and Riverside counties and destroying homes and cabins.

“We went as far as looking up how many votes he got in those impacted areas … to show him these are people who voted for you,” Harvey told Politico.

In October 2018, 541,665 people (34.72%) in Orange County were registered Republican voters, 523,624 (33.56%) were registered Democrats and 429,675 (27.54%) were no party preference. Statewide, however, nearly 8.6 million (43.45%) registered voters in 2018 were Democrats, 5.4 million (27.52%) no party preference and 4.7 million (24.04%) were Republicans.

As of Sept. 6, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Orange County, 37.03% to 33.99%, with 22.77% of voters registered as no party preference. Southern California, and Orange County particularly, is home to multiple tight congressional races this year that will determine which political party controls the House in 2025.

A campaign spokesperson for Trump did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Trump has been highly critical of California and its handling of wildfires in 2018.

“I think California ought to get their act together and clean up their forests and manage their forests because it’s disgraceful,” Trump said during an August 2018 Cabinet meeting.

“So I say to the governor or whoever is going to be the governor of California: You better get your act together,” Trump said. “Because California, we’re just not going to continue to pay the kind of money that we’re paying because of fires that should never be to the extent …”

The Washington Post in 2018 reported that the then-president’s response to disasters was “colored in red and blue,” comparing his trips to the Gulf Coast and North Carolina after hurricanes to his criticism of California post wildfires. The report noted that Trump took to social media to criticize what he called California’s “gross mismanagement of the forests,” only acknowledging the victims 14 hours later.

After initially angering California officials with his social media response to the fires, Trump ultimately approved an expedited disaster declaration request.

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, called the report about Trump’s initial leanings on disaster relief for California “abhorrent.”

“When Orange County needed help, Donald Trump left us to fend for ourselves,” Porter said on X, formerly Twitter. “Our leaders should look out for every person they represent, not just the people who voted for them.”

In recent days, Trump has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration, including Harris, for its handling of the destruction in the southeast caused by Hurricane Helene.

He has said, without evidence, that the Biden administration and Democratic officials were not helping people in Republican areas. At a rally in Michigan on Thursday, he claimed that the administration had no money to deal with the disaster because it had spent too much on migrants.

President Joe Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, lambasted Trump on Thursday.

“You can’t only help those in need if they voted for you,” Biden said on X. “It’s the most basic part of being president, and this guy knows nothing about it.”

“A glimpse into the future if we elect (Trump),” said an X post from Newsom.

Last month, Trump was critical of both the state and federal governments for their handling of the reactivation of an ancient landslide complex on the Palos Verdes Penninsula. Speaking to reporters from his golf course on the cliffs of Ranchos Palos Verdes, Trump said officials were “missing in action” and called California a “mess.”