BASIS OF PRESENTATION (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2017

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

The unaudited interim Consolidated Financial Statements, including the Notes thereto of Citizens Financial Group, Inc., have been prepared in accordance with GAAP interim reporting requirements, and therefore do not include all information and Notes included in the audited Consolidated Financial Statements in conformity with GAAP. These unaudited interim Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying Notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016. The Company’s principal business activity is banking, conducted through its subsidiaries, Citizens Bank, N.A. and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania.

Consolidation

The unaudited interim Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of the Company and subsidiaries in which the Company has a controlling financial interest. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated. The Company has evaluated its unconsolidated entities and does not believe that any entity in which it has an interest, but does not currently consolidate, meets the requirements to be consolidated as a variable interest entity.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Material estimates that are particularly susceptible to significant change in the near-term relate to the determination of the allowance for credit losses, evaluation and measurement of impairment of goodwill, evaluation of unrealized losses on securities for other-than-temporary impairment, accounting for income taxes, the valuation of AFS and HTM securities, and derivatives.

Reclassifications

Certain prior period noninterest income amounts reported in the Consolidated Statement of Operations have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation and student loans were renamed “education” loans to more closely align with the full range of services offered to borrowers, from loan origination to refinancing. These changes had no effect on net income, total comprehensive income, total assets or total stockholders’ equity as previously reported.

Adopted and Pending Accounting Pronouncements

Accounting Pronouncements Adopted in 2017

Pronouncement	Summary of Guidance	Effects on Financial Statements
Stock Compensation Issued March 2016	• Requires that all excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies that pertain to employee stock-based incentive payments are recognized within income tax expense in the Consolidated Statement of Operations, rather than within additional paid in capital. • This standard also allows entities to make a one-time policy election to account for forfeitures when they occur, which the Company elected to do.	• Adopted January 1, 2017 • Adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the Company’s unaudited interim Consolidated Financial Statements

Accounting Pronouncements Pending Adoption

Pronouncement	Summary of Guidance	Effects on Financial Statements
Derivatives and Hedging Issued August 2017	• Reduces the complexity and operational burdens of the current hedge accounting model and portrays more clearly the effects of hedge accounting in the financial statements. • Modifies current requirements to facilitate the application of hedge accounting to partial-term hedges, hedges of prepayable financial instruments, and other strategies. • Eliminates the requirement to separately recognize and report hedge ineffectiveness. • Requires the effects of fair value hedges to be classified in the same income statement line as the earnings effect of the hedged item. For example, changes in the fair values of a derivative and a hedged item designated in a fair value hedge of interest rate risk will require classification within Interest income or Interest expense. • Requires the effects of cash flow hedges to be deferred in other comprehensive income until the hedged cash flows affect earnings. Periodic hedge ineffectiveness will no longer be separately recognized in earnings.	• Required effective date: January 1, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. • The Company is still assessing the impacts upon adoption on the Consolidated Financial Statements.
Stock Compensation Issued May 2017	• Requires modification accounting unless the fair value, vesting conditions, and classification of the modified award are the same as the original award immediately before the modification. • Applied prospectively to all modifications of share-based awards after the adoption date.	• Required effective date: January 1, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. The Company will adopt the new standard in the first quarter of 2018. • Adoption is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.
Premium Amortization on Purchased Callable Debt Securities Issued March 2017	• Requires amortization of premiums to the earliest call date on debt securities with call features that are explicit, noncontingent and callable at fixed prices and on preset dates. • Requires adoption on a modified retrospective basis through a cumulative-effect adjustment directly to retained earnings as of the beginning of the period of adoption.	• Required effective date: January 1, 2019. • Adoption is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.
Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost Issued March 2017	• Requires the service cost component of net periodic pension and postretirement benefit cost to be reported separately in the Consolidated Statements of Operations from the other components (e.g., expected return on assets, interest costs, amortization of gains/losses and prior service costs). • Requires presentation in the Consolidated Statements of Operations of the service cost component in the same line item as other employee compensation costs and presentation of the other components in a different line item from the service cost component.	• Required effective date: January 1, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. The Company will adopt the new standard in the first quarter of 2018. • Adoption will have no impact on the Company’s net income, but based on recent experience that the expected return on assets exceeds the sum of the other components, the Company expects that the guidance will result in an increase in salaries and employee benefits expense and a reduction in other operating expense.
Goodwill Issued January 2017	• Requires an impairment loss to be recognized when the estimated fair value of a reporting unit falls below its carrying value. • Eliminates the second condition in the current guidance that requires an impairment loss to be recognized only if the estimated implied fair value of the goodwill is below its carrying value. • Applied prospectively to all goodwill impairment tests performed after the adoption date.	• Required effective date: January 1, 2020. Early adoption is permitted. The Company does not currently intend to early adopt the new standard. • Adoption is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

Pronouncement	Summary of Guidance	Effects on Financial Statements
Financial Instruments - Credit Losses Issued June 2016	• Replaces existing incurred loss impairment guidance and establishes a single allowance framework for financial assets carried at amortized cost (including securities HTM), which will reflect management’s estimate of credit losses over the full remaining expected life of the financial assets. • Amends existing impairment guidance for securities AFS to incorporate an allowance, which will allow for reversals of impairment losses in the event that the credit of an issuer improves. • Requires a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of the beginning of the reporting period of adoption.	• Required effective date: January 1, 2020. Early adoption permitted on January 1, 2019. • The Company established a company-wide, cross-discipline governance structure to implement the new standard. The Company is currently identifying key interpretive issues and is comparing existing credit loss forecasting models and processes with the new guidance to determine what modifications may be required. • While the Company is currently evaluating the impact the standard will have on its Consolidated Financial Statements, the Company expects the standard will result in an earlier recognition of credit losses and an increase in the allowance for credit losses. The magnitude of the increase in the Company’s allowance for loan losses at the adoption date will be dependent upon the nature of the characteristics of the portfolio at the adoption date, as well as macroeconomic conditions and forecasts at that date.
Leases Issued February 2016	• Requires lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and corresponding lease liability for all leases with a lease term of greater than one year.  • Requires lessees and lessors to classify most leases using principles similar to existing lease accounting, but eliminates the “bright line” classification tests. • Requires that for finance leases, a lessee recognize interest expense on the lease liability separately from the amortization of the right-of-use asset in the Consolidated Statements of Operations, while for operating leases, such amounts should be recognized as a combined expense. • Requires expanded disclosures about the nature and terms of lease agreements. • Requires adoption using a modified cumulative effect approach wherein the guidance is applied to all periods presented.	• Required effective date: January 1, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. • The Company does not expect early adoption of the new leasing standard. • The Company occupies certain banking offices and equipment under non-cancelable operating lease agreements, which currently are not reflected in its Consolidated Balance Sheets. • The Company expects to report increased assets and liabilities as a result of recognizing right-of-use assets and lease liabilities in its Consolidated Balance Sheets. As of December 31, 2016, the Company was committed to $809 million of minimum lease payments under non-cancelable operating lease agreements. • The evaluation of the impact of the leasing pronouncement will be adjusted based on execution of new leases, termination of existing leases prior to the effective date, and any changes to key lease assumptions such as renewals, extensions and discount rates. • The Company does not expect a material change to the timing of expense recognition in the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Pronouncement	Summary of Guidance	Effects on Financial Statements
Revenue Recognition: Revenue from Contracts with Customers Issued May 2014	• Requires that revenue from contracts with customers be recognized upon transfer of control of a good or service in the amount of consideration expected to be received. • Changes the accounting for certain contract costs including whether they may be offset against revenues in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. • Requires new qualitative and quantitative disclosures, including information about disaggregation of revenue and performance obligations. • May be adopted using a full retrospective approach or a modified cumulative effect approach wherein the guidance is applied only to existing contracts as of the date of initial adoption and to new contracts transacted after that date.	• Required effective date: January 1, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. • The Company plans to adopt the revenue guidance in the first quarter of 2018 using the modified retrospective method. Net interest income on financial assets and liabilities is explicitly excluded from the scope of the pronouncement. • The Company’s implementation efforts include the identification of revenue within the scope of the guidance, as well as the evaluation of revenue contracts and related accounting policies. Based on these efforts, the Company has not identified material changes to the timing or amount of revenue recognition. • The Company has substantially completed its evaluation of the expanded disclosure requirements and expects the most significant item will be the disaggregation of revenue.