CFGCitizens Financial Group, Inc.

Citizens Financial Group is a north-eastern bank that became independent after being separated from its British parent.

The classic model: household and business deposits fund mortgages, corporate loans and consumer credit, and the rate spread supplies most of the result. A distinct and well-known line is student loan refinancing, where the bank took a noticeable share of the market.

After the separation the company built out what it had lacked under its parent: services for affluent clients and investment banking for mid-sized companies. The risks are the sector's standard ones — book quality in a downturn, commercial real estate, the cost of deposits — plus the mortgage line's sensitivity to rates. The bank pays a dividend and buys back stock.