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Fact-Check: FAILED Citizens Bank Was Rated BBB+ Right Before Going Under?

Think the Government will “protect you”?

Think you can trust rating agencies and other groups designed for “consumer protection”?

Give me a break…

I sure hope you learned through COVID how the world really works, but if not I’ve got the latest example for you.

Less than one month ago, on October 10, 2023, ratings agency FitchRatings quote: “Affirms Citizens Financial Group at ‘BBB+’; Outlook Revised to Stable.”

Wow!

Take a look:

Here is a portion of that Fitch report:

Fitch Ratings – New York – 10 Oct 2023: Fitch Ratings has affirmed Citizens Financial Group, Inc.’s (CFG) Long- and Short-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDRs) at ‘BBB+’ and ‘F1’, respectively. CFG’s Rating Outlook was revised to Stable from Positive. The Long-Term IDR assigned to CFG’s operating bank subsidiary, Citizens Bank, N.A. (CBNA) was also affirmed at ‘BBB+’ with a Stable Outlook.

Fitch has not incorporated in this action the long-term debt requirement proposed by the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. As this is still only a proposed rule, Fitch will convey how we will incorporate the rule once it has been finalized. Fitch expects that all banks subject to this requirement will be able to comply with the rule as currently proposed within the allowable phase-in period.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Outlook Revision: Fitch has revised the rating Outlook to Stable from Positive due to unfavorable funding conditions and rising credit costs, particularly with respect to Commercial Real Estate exposures. Fitch believes these factors could challenge CFG’s earnings growth over the rating horizon.

Diversifying Business Model: CFG is the 18th largest domestic bank holding company in the U.S. with approximately $223.7 billion in assets as of 2Q23. It operates primarily through its Consumer and Commercial Banking segments. CFG’s business mix has skewed toward consumer banking (responsible for 64% of 1H23 revenues). However, a steady diversification process, accelerated by the 2021 and 2022 acquisitions of JMP Group, LLC (a capital markets firm) and Investors Bancorp, Inc. (ISBC) has increased CFG’s commercial lending and capital markets capabilities. In 2023, CFG also launched its private bank initiative to build its Wealth presence.

Gee, you really would think the nerds at the these high profile ratings agencies should have come up with some rating like “About To Go Under!” or something.

Guess not.

ONE CAVEAT: It is possible that this rating was for a “different” Citizens Bank, as names of banking groups are usually very similar and there are often multiple banks with very similar or even identical names, as banks are often chartered at the state level.

So is that the case here?

According to Wikipedia, is seems as though the failed Citizens Bank was a branch of the banking group rated BBB+ by Fitch:

If anyone has information to the contrary, please post it in the comments or email me and I’ll be happy to update this article with additional facts.

Here was our original report in case you missed it:

ANOTHER Bank Just Failed, 6th One This Year (And Counting)

Another bank has just failed.

This marks the 6th bank this year to fail in the United States, but I’m sure the system is “just fine”.

They sure do love making these announcements late on a Friday:

Citizens Bank of Iowa had $66 million in assets:

Here is the full Press Release from the FDIC:

Citizens Bank, Sac City, Iowa, was closed today by the Iowa Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect depositors, the FDIC entered into a Purchase and Assumption Agreement with Iowa Trust & Savings Bank, Emmetsburg, Iowa, to assume all of the deposits of Citizens Bank.

The two branches of Citizens Bank will reopen as branches of Iowa Trust & Savings Bank on Monday during normal business hours. This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Citizens Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

Depositors of Citizens Bank will become depositors of Iowa Trust & Savings Bank, so customers do not need to change their banking relationship in order to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers of Citizens Bank should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Iowa Trust & Savings Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow its branch offices to process their accounts as well.

As of September 30, 2023, Citizens Bank had approximately $66 million in total assets and $59 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, Iowa Trust & Savings Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank’s assets.

Customers with questions about the transaction should call the FDIC toll-free at 1-866-314-1744. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m. Central Time (CT); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. CT; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m. CT; on Monday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. CT; and thereafter from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT. Interested parties can also visit the FDIC’s website.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $14.8 million. Compared to other alternatives, Iowa Trust & Savings Bank’s acquisition was the least costly resolution for the DIF, an insurance fund created by Congress in 1933 and managed by the FDIC to protect the deposits at the nation’s banks. Citizens Bank is the fifth bank to fail in the nation this year. The last failure in Iowa was Polk County Bank, Johnston, Iowa, on November 18, 2011.

Chris Greene over at AMTV had more on the story:

The Bank failed the same day that widespread outages plagued Banks big and small and paychecks suddenly “went missing”.

We covered it yesterday:

BREAKING: Reports Of Missing Deposits As “Direct Deposit System” Crashes (All Major Banks Affected)

We've been warning you all year....

I hope you've been taking action.

The worst is yet to come.

Get ready for a period of time coming soon when banks simply won't be open!

That's not my opinion, that's Col. Macgregor:

Col. MacGregor: “I Think The Banks Are Going Down For 2-3 Weeks”

Or perhaps they will use "bail-ins"...

Have you heard about those?

Your bank may be open, but it will decide that you need to contribute to the "greater good" (perhaps during some major crisis event) and it will simply take a portion of whatever you have on deposit as your "contribution".

Think that sounds crazy?

It's not.

They've already done it in other countries.

Coming here next?

INCOMING: US Government May Freeze American Bank Withdrawals

Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

I follow the news for a living and I keep my finger on the pulse of the nation while doing so, and I can tell you something feels very “off” right now.

Like something big is about to drop.

And I feel like it will involve the banks.

Call it a hunch, but my gut isn’t wrong too often.

And it’s very possible your money may not be safe.

Where’s the safest place to put your money?

For decades, we were raised and taught the answer to that question was “in a bank”.

And for decades that answer was correct.

But what if one day the bank just says — sorry!  It’s not your money anymore!  — and refuses to let you take it out?

That’s not just random speculation by me, many experts are warning that’s coming.

In fact, it already has a name:  “bail-ins”.

Check this out:

And from Stew Peters:

Here’s more, from The Daily HODL:

In a new interview on Bloomberg Markets, Hendry says mass panic and capital flight away from the US banking sector is entirely justified.

Hendry says a further decline in the M2 money supply, which in part tracks money in liquid checking accounts, could convince the US government to step in and prevent citizens from taking their capital out of the banking system.
“Sometimes it’s kind of relevant to panic. I would recommend you panic… You’ve seen the biggest waterfall decline in M2 right now. M2 is deposits, not loans. That’s the deposits fleeing the system and going into money market funds.

That could reach a crescendo where the Treasury and the Fed may have to come in and actually restrict your right as a US citizen to pull money out of the US banking sector.”

Hendry says capital flight from US banks is not solely about fears on whether the FDIC will insure deposits above $250,000, and a blanket guarantee on deposits would not solve the problem.

“There is capital flight, deposit flight from the banking sector seeking yield. I fear that, I don’t say this lightly, but in 1934 the Federal Reserve Act confiscated gold from US citizens.

We’re at the point where the Fed and Treasury officials I’m sure are having to consider a gate a lock on US bank deposits.”

You can watch that full video here:

But it’s not just these people warning you…

How about President Trump himself?

That’s right, check this out:

TRUMP: “Our Currency Is Crashing And Will Soon No Longer Be The World Standard…”

President Trump said something VERY interesting in his historic speech last night.

Many very interesting things actually.

Historic speech.

But one thing really jumped out to me because we’ve been covering it here a lot.

And that is the crash of the U.S. Dollar.

Bo Polny was one of the very first people to ever talk about this, telling me on my show over 2 years ago that it would happen.

Back then people laughed.

Said Bo was crazy.

And now?

Now you have President Donald John Trump telling you point blank.

Wow.

Watch this:

More here:

As always, I never like to just leave you with a problem…

Leave you feeling helpless…

Nah, that’s not what we do here.

I like to give you solutions!

And on that note I have just one question for you:  “Got Gold?”

Got God’s money?

Might be wise.

Read this:

Gold Is About To Become “Unobtainium”?

In the history of the world, it usually hasn’t been a bad idea to secure some of your assets in “God’s money” a/k/a Gold.

And boy do I have a big update for you on that.

Here are two of the best, Steve Quayle and Greg Hunter.

I always love listening to these two chat, even though they got a little chippy at the end, with Quayle chipping back “Did you not just hear me?”

That’s ok, stress and tensions running high.

But there was a LOT in this one and I will try to summarize a couple main points.

First, Quayle points out that China has been absolutely DUMPING U.S. Treasuries in recent months, and then accelerating the sales this week.

According to Quayle, they dumped so much this week they sold them for 15 cents on the dollar just to get out.

As Bo Polny keeps warning us, a failure of the U.S. Dollar (USD) $ is coming and this is how you get a failure.

When the second largest holder of U.S. Treasuries rage quits the market and dumps them at fire sale.

Take a look at this:

Ok, so to everyone who just tuned out when I started talking about Treasuries, let me explain to you why this matters.

DISCLAIMER: no, I am not a Financial Advisor and I’m definitely not YOUR Financial Advisor.  But I am a reporter and I report it like I see it.  Fair and honest.

Because the US Dollar is likely going down hard….

But that also means Gold is likely about to Moonshot.

Check this out:

As for that last one, that would be going from $2,000/oz to $8,000/oz.

We call that a 4x move, or a 400% gain.

Wow.

You can watch the full interview here on Rumble:

If you already have gold, that’s great!

For everyone else….keep reading:

A Faith-Driven, Conservative Precious Metals Company You Can Use With Your IRA!

For the last year, central banks across the globe have been buying up as much gold (and often silver) as they can acquire without raising alarm bells. Now, we see why.

The recent bank runs and ongoing collapse of the U.S. banking system was anticipated by the “elites” and the central bankers who run things behind the scenes. They saw it coming and knew the best way to protect their assets was through physical precious metals.

If you’ve been waiting for me to bring you a solution about what YOU can do to protect yourself and you’re family, I’m happy to introduce you to something I absolutely love!

Precious metals.

I just talked about precious metals this week with Bo Polny and now I’m bringing you a solution that you can utilize right away if you’re so inclined…

A faith-driven, conservative precious metals company is currently helping Americans tap into the rising precious metals market through self-directed IRAs backed by physical precious metals. And while this service is not unique to Genesis, their adherence to Biblical stewardship of money makes them singularly qualified to receive a sponsored recommendation from this site.

Unlike most companies offering similar services, Genesis deals only with physical precious metals. They do not offer “virtual” or “paper” gold or silver.

STRONG AND COURAGEOUS: Your Children Need This…TAP HERE

With Genesis and their depositories, customers can see and touch the precious metals that back their retirement accounts. When it comes time to take distributions, Genesis customers can cash in some or all of their precious metals or have them delivered to their door.

Central bankers aren’t slowing down. In fact, nations like China and even U.S. states like Tennessee are quickly but quietly buying up gold to back their own treasuries. When the writing on the wall is this clear, it’s understandable why these governments are moving quickly to get ahead of any potential economic catastrophes in store.

Working with Genesis is the best way our readers can explore the physical precious metals market through self-directed IRAs. It benefits us as well when our readers work with this America-First company.

Visit genesiswlt.com or call 866-292-0443 today.

Don’t wait too long, we might have more bank failures right around the corner.

You know what has NEVER “failed”?

Gold.  Precious metals.  Indestructible.

There’s a reason they call it “God’s money”.

Watch this for more:

Stay safe!

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