Formerly | First Bank of the Villages |
---|---|
Industry | Banking |
Founded | 1991 |
Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 14 (2021) |
Area served | Central Florida; The Villages, Florida |
Key people | Lindsey M. Blaise, President & CEO |
Products | Checking accounts, savings accounts, IRAs, CDs, credit cards, and mortgage loans. |
Total assets | $3.6 billion (2021) |
Number of employees | 364 (2021) |
Parent | Villages Bancorporation, Inc. |
Website |
mycitizensfirst |
Citizens First Bank is an American community bank that is headquartered in The Villages, Florida. [1] It was founded on July 1, 1991.
As of 2021 [update], Citizens First Bank had 14 branches throughout Central Florida. [2] It holds more than $2 billion in assets and is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. [3] Citizens First Bank is the tenth largest bank in the state of Florida. [4]
A 2014 report claimed that over 72 percent of residents in The Villages, Florida banked with Citizens First Bank. [5] As of 2018 [update], Citizens First Bank had a market share of over 51 percent in The Villages. [6] The company has been noted for its customer service, particularly offering amenities such as lobby hosts and popcorn to customers. [7] The bank has a primarily older clientele, composed mainly of retirees and seasonal residents. [7]
Originally founded as First Bank of the Villages in 1991, [8] Citizens First Bank was renamed in 1998. [8] Citizens First Bank was created by Harold Schwartz, the founder of The Villages. [9] According to Schwartz, the bank was, "created specifically to fill the needs of our community and to conscientiously and joyously serve our Villages residents in every possible way." [9] In 2001, the bank moved their headquarters from Lady Lake, Florida to The Villages, Florida. [8] Lindsey M. Blaise, granddaughter of Villages founder Gary Morse, [10] has served as President & CEO since 2019. [11] In 2017, Citizens First Bank sold its Leesburg, Florida branch to a real estate developer and moved to a newly built location. [12] The company also announced plans to open a new branch in Fruitland Park, Florida that year. [12]
In 2018, Citizens First Bank purchased a branch office from CBC National Bank in The Villages, FL. At the time of purchase, the branch had about $35 million in deposits. [13] In 2018, the company announced plans to open a new branch near the Village of Fenney, further expanding southward. [14]
In 2019, news broke of the bank's plans to build a new headquarters in Wildwood, Florida. [15] In January 2019, the Wildwood City Council accepted a $3 million offer for an 18-acre parcel of city-owned land. The company plans to build a 45,000 square-foot administrative building on the land. [16]
In October 2019, the company announced plans to open a new branch in Ocala, Florida. [17]
Citizens First Bank is owned and operated by Villages Bancorporation, Inc. [18] As of 2021, the bank had over 300 employees, fourteen branch locations, and over 70 ATMs throughout Central Florida. [19] Citizens First Bank operates mainly in The Villages, Florida, with branches in the surrounding communities of Leesburg, Florida and Fruitland Park, Florida. [2] The bank also began operating a branch in Clermont, Florida in 2007, [20] but later closed it.
Citizens First Bank offers wealth and investment management services under the name Citizens First Wealth Advisors. [21]
Citizens First Bank has been involved in numerous community outreach efforts over the years, including homebuilding partnerships with Habitat for Humanity, [22] scholarship donations to the Buffalo Scholarship Foundation, [23] and participation in local events such as the Villages Charter School Annual BBQ Bash, [24] Bless Fruitland Park's Love Week [25] and The Villages Relay for Life. [26] Citizens First Bank also created a scam prevention program called Fraud Busters. Since its inception in 2009, the program has saved customers nearly $1 million by stopping scam-related activity. [27] In 2018, Citizens First Bank sponsored the construction of a home in Lady Lake, Florida, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Lake-Sumter. [28] In 2020, during the coronavirus crisis, Citizens First Bank successfully secured $105 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds for small businesses in the area. [29]
In 2019, Coral Gables, Florida, based financial rating agency, Bauer Financial, gave Citizens First Bank a five-star rating. [30]
In May 2020, Citizens First Bank was named number 24 out of 25 for banks with more than $1 billion in assets in the Independent Community Bankers of America's Best of the Best. [31]
In June 2020, DepositAccounts.com named Citizens First Bank one of its Top 200 Healthiest Banks of 2020. [4]