Citizens Bank wants to grow its security lending

BOSTON—Citizens Bank wants to do more security alarm deals and “expand around the edges” to adjacent businesses, Greg Buscone, SVP and market manager of Specialized Banking at Citizens Commercial, told Security Systems News.

As part of this effort, Citizens has hired Christopher E. Needham and Kenneth J. Mooney as managing directors of Citizens' Security Alarm Industry Banking team.
 
Citizens is looking to expand its “traditional EBITDA lending and RMR lending,” as well as its work with security manufacturers.

Buscone noted that “a lot of companies are performing well in the [DIY] space and there's more opportunity there [as well as] in the PERS space." While DIY and PERS are not “areas of focus” for the group, Citizens may be more active in these areas, he said.
 
Needham and Mooney will be based here. Buscone leads the six-person security alarm group, which also includes Jane Westrich.  

Buscone said that adding two people who know security well “will give us more opportunity to spend time on transactions and more opportunity to be out there looking at deals."

If a company is growing rapidly and needs to borrow $50-, $75- or $100 million, Citizens is skilled at putting a bank group together, he said. The group also works on much larger club deals as well, he said.

Most recently, Mooney and Needham were with Seguin Partners, a Massachusetts-based private equity firm that Needham co-founded. Earlier in their careers, both Mooney and Needham were with State Street Bank, where Needham ran the security alarm specialty group. Citizens acquired the commercial banking business, including the security group from State Street. Needham also previously worked with Citizens Bank.
 
Needham has an MBA from Harvard University and a BA in finance from the University of Maryland. Mooney has a BA and MBA from Suffolk University.