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John Woods to leave after eight years

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Move is a surprise, analyst says

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Citizens promotes Coughlin as president

By Pritam Biswas

April 30 (Reuters) - Citizens Financial Group ( CFG )

said on Wednesday that Vice Chair and Chief Financial Officer

John Woods would leave in August, after more than eight years

with the bank.

Woods is set to take over as finance chief at State Street

, a separate release from State Street said.

He joined Citizens from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group ( MUFG )

in February 2017.

"He (Woods) has been instrumental in shaping our long-term

financial strategy and delivering on our growth objectives while

navigating a complex economic landscape," Citizens' CEO Said Van

Saun said in a statement.

The announcement comes amid market uncertainty sparked by

U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies, when financial

institutions are assessing their growth prospects and the way

forward.

"The announcement related to Mr. Woods does come as a

surprise, but we are confident Citizens' search (internal and

external) will result in a strong replacement and smooth

transition," said David Long, analyst at brokerage firm Raymond

James, which reiterated its "strong buy" rating on Citizens'

stock.

Woods previously served as CFO of JPMorgan Chase's ( JPM )

home lending division and also held key roles at Arthur

Andersen, where he began his career and worked for 16 years.

At State Street - one of the world's largest custodian banks

- he will replace Mark Keating, who served as interim CFO after

long-time finance chief Eric Aboaf left in February to join

financial information company S&P Global ( SPGI ) in the same

capacity.

NEW PRESIDENT

Citizens Financial also announced the promotion of company

veteran Brendan Coughlin to the position of president.

Coughlin was vice chair and head of consumer, private

banking and wealth at Citizens and will continue to oversee the

verticals he headed, along with the enterprise data and

analytics and marketing divisions.

"The announcement related to Mr. Coughlin's appointment is

not a surprise, given the success he has had in leading several

initiatives for the bank," Long said.