Silicon Valley Bank’s integration with First Citizens Bank is going “better than expected.”  

Acquiring Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March was an opportunity for First Citizens Bank (FCB) to go beyond traditional banking, Christopher Hollins, head of solution sales and delivery at SVB, a division of First Citizens Bank, told Bank Automation News at the Finovate Fall 2023 conference last week.

A run on deposits at SVB had caused one of the biggest U.S. bank failures in more than a decade. 

FCB recognized that acquiring SVB and utilizing its specializing banking services could help the bank expand its customer base, Hollins said.

The Raleigh, N.C.-based bank is also adopting SVB’s tech to improve its digital banking channels, Hollins said.  

“There are a lot of things that we are doing in terms of how we do our [Know Your Customer], how we figure out what clients are viable,” Hollins said. “They are looking at some of the processes we’re going through and adopting this, I think, in the area from an account management perspective.” 

FCB is also assessing other SVB products and capabilities for its small business and commercial clients, he said. 

SVB considers opening new branches

SVB is “thinking” about opening more branches to expand its services, Hollins said.  

The acquisition of CIT Bank in January 2022 for $2.2 billion allowed SVB to serve clients through bank branches, he said, and being acquired by FCB can further expand the branch network. SVB has 12 branches, 39 offices and 11 ATMs in the United States along with one office in India operating as a division of FCB, according to the SVB website.  

Opening branches allows FCB to expand, and SVB to increase “our pipeline of opportunities, especially on the small-business side,” Hollins said. 

“We’ve been very focused on ensuring that digital capabilities for the clients who never want to go into a branch are being optimized,” he said. The bank is also building insights on “transaction behaviors of our clients so that we can be smarter around how to service them” in branches or digitally. 

Still focused on innovation economy

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based bank is still focused on innovation and plans to continue serving that market, an SVB spokesperson told BAN.  

“SVB is still looking at innovators and startups across the innovation economy and that’s not changing for us,” Hollins said.