Bank Index

First Citizens Bank

Commercial bank · Raleigh, United States

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First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company is a top-20 US commercial bank headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, with about 236 billion dollars in assets and more than 500 branches across 23 states. It traces to the 1898 Bank of Smithfield and remains controlled by the Holding family through First Citizens BancShares. In March 2023 it purchased the deposits and loans of the failed Silicon Valley Bank from the FDIC, and SVB now operates as an internal division serving technology, life-science, healthcare, private-equity and venture-capital clients with 39 offices in 15 states. The bank did not acquire Silicon Valley Bank's UK subsidiary, which the Bank of England sold to HSBC UK separately.

Legal name
First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company
Regulated by
FDIC, North Carolina Office of the Commissioner of Banks, Federal Reserve (bank holding company supervision)
Licence confirmed
yes, on a regulator's own list
Established
1898
Website
www.firstcitizens.com

Scores, 0 to 10

8.0United States
Top-20 US bank with 236 billion dollars in assets, 500-plus branches across 23 states and the SVB division's 39 offices in 15 states. · source
8.0Startups & VC-backed companies
The SVB division is dedicated to technology, life-science and venture-backed companies, with 39 offices in 15 states and venture-debt and Global Fund Banking products carried over from the original Silicon Valley Bank. · source
8.0On-ramp: buy crypto with fiat
First Citizens sells no crypto, but its SVB division has a named crypto banking team that serves exchanges and wallet providers and, per a February 2026 CoinDesk report, more than 500 crypto companies and investors, so fiat moves to exchanges without friction. · source
7.5Off-ramp: crypto to fiat in a business account
Because SVB banks crypto exchanges and crypto-native companies directly, exchange proceeds are routine business for it, though no published source-of-funds process or 24/7 settlement network exists. · source
7.0Financial strength & stability
Investment-grade ratings of BBB+ (S&P) and Baa2 (Moody's) with a CET1 ratio of 11.15 percent at year-end 2025. · source
5.0Cross-border payments, FX and multi-currency accounts
SVB's Global Fund Banking unit provides FX solutions to facilitate cross-border capital flows for PE and VC clients, but no currency count or margin is published and the bank has no foreign licensed entities. SVB's Global Fund Banking unit offers deposit products, treasury management and lending products for private equity and venture capital clients across multiple US offices. · source
5.0Customer satisfaction
No Trustpilot business-banking page or consolidated customer satisfaction score was found; the SVB acquisition followed the March 2023 collapse of the original bank, which affected trust among some legacy clients. · source
4.5Business cards (Visa, Mastercard)
First Citizens issues business debit and credit cards through its personal and small-business card lines, but no published foreign-transaction fee or virtual-card programme for business cards was found. · source
4.0Fintech companies that need a partner bank
No published safeguarding, BaaS or sponsor-banking programme for EMIs or payment firms was found; SVB's legacy fintech-banking book is not detailed on the current site. · source
4.0Online businesses: e-commerce and SaaS
No acquiring or marketplace-payout product is published. SVB's Global Fund Banking and Innovation Banking businesses serve software and technology companies with commercial banking and treasury products, but no API-first or accounting-integration product is published. · source
4.0Trade, manufacturing & import-export
General commercial banking includes trade-related lending, but no letters-of-credit or documentary-collection product page was found for the retail commercial bank. · source
3.5Lowest fees
No public business account fee schedule was found on the main site. · source
3.5Best interest on business balances
No published business-balance yield or treasury sweep rate was found. · source
3.5Fast digital onboarding
No self-service online application or stated opening timeline for a general business account is published. · source
3.5Foreign-owned & non-resident companies
No published policy on onboarding foreign-owned companies or non-resident directors was found for the general bank. · source
3.0Crypto-friendly bank
No published policy on onboarding crypto exchanges or VASP-licensed firms was found for First Citizens or the SVB division. · source
3.0High-risk verticals (iGaming, cannabis, adult, forex)
No published policy on gambling, cannabis, adult or forex-broker clients was found. · source
3.0Stablecoins (USDC, USDT and others)
SVB is a member of the Stablecoin Standard group and banks stablecoin firms on the fiat side, but no business client can hold, send or convert stablecoins at the bank, checked September 2026. · source
1.0Crypto wallet and custody for a business
Its SVB division offers crypto companies fiat-based banking only, with no crypto custody or wallet for any business client; an April 2026 release promises expanded crypto capabilities to be announced separately, and none had been announced by September 2026. · source
1.0Accept crypto payments
No crypto or stablecoin acceptance for merchants is offered by First Citizens or SVB, whose crypto page lists fiat banking, specialty financing and payment services, checked September 2026. · source
1.0Bitcoin
No bitcoin buying, custody or bitcoin-backed lending for business clients is published by First Citizens or SVB, checked September 2026. · source
1.0Ethereum
No ether trading, custody or staking for business clients is published by First Citizens or SVB, checked September 2026. · source

Sources

Built on public information and the BankStore team's own aggregated experience; no confidential client or partner data. Bank Index and BankStore are not banks. This is information, not financial advice.