Citizens Bank

At a Glance

Industry

Financial Services and Insurance

Project Type

Financial Evaluation and Planning

Year

2020

Location

Johnston, RI

Summary

Ofelia López Aranda developed conceptual and analytical tools to further the development of environmental financial products at Citizens Bank.

Goals

Citizens Bank is one of the oldest and largest financial institutions in the country, providing retail and commercial financial products and services in 11 states. As part of its innovation process, the bank is now developing an environmental financial product framework, aimed at financing projects that promote resilience and sustainability in the enterprises and communities it serves. EDF Climate Corps Fellow Ofelia Lopez Aranda was asked to provide advice and analytical tools to strengthen this development process.

Solutions

Given Citizens Bank’s ongoing efforts and existing innovation mechanisms, the most impactful approach was to strengthen the existing projects and initiatives, supporting their current leaders, rather than creating a stand-alone project. 

Working with the Senior VP of Procurement and Property Corporate Services, Ofelia set out to benchmark the best market practices while reviewing the bank’s innovation and product development processes and its portfolio. As a result of this analysis, she focused on providing the teams involved with the conceptual and technical tools they required to further their ongoing projects. This included an analytical framework that links the best practices and regulations with the bank’s existing and potential portfolio, thus providing a reference point for future product development.

Impact

Incorporating best practices and regulations to the development process of its environmental financial products framework will enable Citizens Bank to better address the needs of its clients and of the communities in which it operates. This will in turn increase the availability of financing for sustainability and resilience projects for local enterprises, which might otherwise not be available.


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