Company: First Citizens Bank
Company Description: Headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., First Citizens Bank has more than 500 branches in 30 states; commercial banking expertise delivering best-in-class lending, leasing and other financial services coast to coast; innovation banking; and a nationwide direct bank. Parent company First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA) is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year - Banking - Large
 Nomination Title: First Citizens Bank
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the achievements of the nominated organization since January 1 2023, OR written answers to the questions for this category? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 200 words used.
Headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., First Citizens is a top 20 U.S. financial institution and a member of the Fortune 500™, with more than $200 billion in assets and more than 500 branches and offices in 30 states. Since its founding more than 125 years ago, it has built a unique legacy of strength, stability and long-term thinking that has spanned generations.
The bank has grown steadily in recent decades through organic growth and through a series of acquisitions. Two of the most significant were the 2022 acquisition of the former CIT Group, including its noted Energy Finance unit, and the 2023 acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank via a transaction with the FDIC.
The Energy Finance team has flourished under First Citizens ownership, extending its legacy of innovative financing in renewable energy. In fact, the group was recognized in 2020 with Gold Stevie Award for “Powering Sustainability with Financing,” and a 2020 award as Top Lead Arranger for Renewable Energy Financing by Power Finance & Risk, a leading industry publication.
Energy Finance embodies First Citizen’s relationship banking model, which favors long-term relationships and repeat business over many years versus the transaction-oriented business model pursued by many other banks.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Outline the organization's achievements since the beginning of 2023 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 227 words used.
First Citizens’ Energy Finance has concentrated its recent efforts in the area of financing battery energy storage systems (BESS). The team financed the banking industry’s very first such transaction in 2019, and has now gone on to become an industry leader.
Its successful financings of utility-scale BESS projects nationwide have helped accelerate development and market acceptance of this vital energy storage technology, which contributes to stabilizing energy grids and to addressing a critical need – how to deliver renewable power even when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.
In 2023 and 2024 alone, First Citizens Energy Finance arranged financings leading to $4.5 billion worth of combined investments in 17 battery storage projects. Collectively, they represent 4,200-plus gigawatts of capacity -- more than the output of four nuclear reactors.
One such project, on which First Citizens Energy Finance served as co-lead arranger, was valued at $1.8 billion and was hailed as the biggest ever and a “major leap forward for standalone battery storage” by Batteries News.
In another instance, First Citizens Energy arranged financing of $672 million for three separate projects by Plus Power, representing 700 megawatts of battery storage capacity.
The team’s ongoing investment in BESS has been supported by the strength and stability of First Citizens Bank, which acquired the Energy Finance unit in 2022 when it bought CIT Group.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 228 words used.
Renewable energy financings aren’t like supersized car loans or home mortgages. Most involve loans worth tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars and require an intensive level of due diligence and banking expertise to originate, underwrite, arrange and syndicate. And when a technology is new and relatively unproven, as it was in the early days with battery storage, the degree of difficulty rises astronomically.
First Citizens Energy Finance was No. 1 among U.S. banks in arranging financings for renewable power projects -- including both solar and battery storage -- for the two-year period of 2023 and 2024, according to Infra Logic, a top industry source for infrastructure project data.
The many megawatts of renewable power projects remaining in Energy Finance team’s pipeline is proof positive that its continuing leadership position is secure.
In a further demonstration of its financing leadership, First Citizens Energy Finance recently announced it will offer tax equity financing to select renewable energy projects, including battery storage. The team also recently integrated the renewable energy project finance group of Silicon Valley Bank, which First Citizens acquired in March 2023.
With the extension of its financing capabilities and the addition of the former SVB team, First Citizens Energy is poised to continue to accelerate the growth of battery storage as it contributes to stabilizing energy grids and promoting a cleaner environment nationwide.
- You have the option to answer this final question: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 160 words used.
- https://www.firstcitizens.com/
- Link to the Wall St. Journal story titled “Wall Street Wants In on America’s Battery Storage Boom” highlights how investment in battery storage was taking off by mid-2024, years after First Citizens’ Energy Finance team arranged the first bank financing of a commercial battery storage project. (NB: The First Citizens team was involved in helping finance an $800 million project for that same client a year earlier.)
- Batteries News article describing battery storage project that First Citizens helped finance as a "major leap forward for standalone battery energy storage."
- Link to First Citizens press releases announcing hundreds of millions of dollars in financing for both solar power generation projects and battery energy storage projects over the last two years, with more on the way.
- Excel spreadsheet of "league table" from third-party data source Infra Logic showing First Citizens Energy Finance as the leading U.S. bank arranging financing for renewable projects in the 2023-2024 period.
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