• AI evolution forcing banks to rethink long-term technology strategies
• Rapid innovation making tools obsolete within months not years
• Citizens targeting $450 million in benefits through transformation
• Call center automation aimed at improving experience and reducing costs
• Engineers shifting to managing AI agents with productivity gains
• Workforce undergoing reskilling as roles become more strategic
• Vendor consolidation and technology simplification underway
• Bank reassessing partnerships between incumbents and challengers
• Physical footprint and branch strategy being refined
• Execution and agility seen as critical to success 

Citizens is pushing forward with its Reimagine the Bank initiative, but executives say the pace of change in artificial intelligence is creating an unprecedented challenge for strategy and execution.

Six months into the program, the bank is grappling with a technology landscape that is evolving far faster than traditional planning cycles can accommodate.

Brendan Coughlin, president of the Providence-based lender, described the situation as overwhelming, particularly as competing AI tools rapidly leapfrog each other in capability.

“We’re building tools for engineers to be more productive on code development, and every three weeks, it’s like, well, Copilot’s in the lead. No, no, Claude’s in the lead … and your head wants to explode,” Coughlin said, referring to the shifting competitive landscape among major AI providers.

This rapid evolution is forcing banks to abandon long-standing approaches to technology investment.

“These things are becoming obsolete in matters of months, not years,” says Coughlin. “It’s a really tricky dynamic that I think most organizations haven’t had to deal with, ever.”

The implications extend beyond technology teams to the entire organization. Executives must continually reassess whether they are pursuing the right tools and strategies, even as they attempt to maintain momentum across complex transformation programs.

“You’ve got everybody going in the right direction, and then you’re like, whoa, wait a second – now this new thing just came out, and are we on the right path?” he said, highlighting the difficulty of sustaining alignment in such a fast-moving environment.

At the core of Citizens’ strategy is a broader simplification effort. The bank is consolidating vendors, reducing its physical footprint, and applying AI across operations to improve efficiency and customer experience.

Through nearly 50 initiatives, it is targeting around $450 million in benefits by the end of 2028, with the majority expected to come from cost efficiencies.

Achieving those gains will require disciplined focus. The president emphasized that success depends on prioritizing use cases that deliver tangible outcomes and mobilizing the organization behind them.

“At the end of the day, this will be about execution,” Coughlin predicts.

Two areas of particular focus are call center operations and engineering. The bank is testing AI-driven changes that could see a quarter of customer calls handled by non-human agents by the end of this year, with a longer-term goal of 50%.

These tools are designed not only to reduce costs but also to enhance customer experience by allowing human agents to focus on more complex, high-value interactions.

At the same time, engineering teams are shifting toward managing AI agents rather than writing code directly.

Early deployments are already delivering productivity gains of around 30%, which executives believe will help the bank compete with larger institutions that have significantly higher technology budgets.

The transformation is also reshaping the workforce. Citizens is investing in upskilling and retraining its employees to prepare them for new roles in an AI-driven environment.

Routine tasks are increasingly being automated, while human roles are evolving toward more strategic and advisory functions.

In the near term, the bank plans to reduce reliance on outsourced providers before making changes that affect its directly employed workforce. Over time, however, some administrative roles are expected to decline as automation becomes more widespread.

The shift extends to vendor strategy as well. Executives are reassessing relationships with both established providers and emerging challengers, weighing the trade-offs between proven platforms and more modern but less mature solutions.

At the same time, Citizens is simplifying its technology stack by standardizing tools across the organization, such as adopting a single customer chat platform rather than multiple systems across different divisions.

Physical infrastructure is also being streamlined. The bank has already exited several smaller locations and is evaluating the future structure of its office network, while continuing to refine its branch footprint in key markets.

Despite the scale of change, executives acknowledge that uncertainty remains a defining feature of the transformation.

The rapid pace of AI development means that strategies must remain flexible, with institutions prepared to adapt quickly as new technologies emerge.

For Citizens, the challenge is not simply adopting AI but doing so in a way that balances speed with strategic clarity. As the president noted, the intensity of change demands a new level of agility across the organization.

“The nimbleness around it has been pretty intense,” said Coughlin.