Citizens Bank

Would-be bank thieves beware: If you attempt to rob a Citizens Bank in Philadelphia, there will be a price on your head. Because of a string of unsolved robberies at six branches throughout the city, Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania announced yesterday that it is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of at-large thieves as well as future robbery suspects. The latest robbery of a Citizens Bank occurred Monday, when a gunman entered the branch at 1417 Walnut St. in Center City, showed a teller a weapon, and presented a demand note before making off with an undisclosed amount of cash.

To accommodate an increasingly 24/7 clientele, Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania said yesterday that it was extending Sunday hours to all 161 of its branches in the Philadelphia area as of this weekend. The move will catapult Citizens ahead of Cherry Hill's Commerce Bank, long identified with seven-day branch banking, in number of branches open Sunday. Commerce offers Sunday banking at 102 local branches. "We want to be there when the customer wants us," said Stephen D. Steinour, chairman and chief executive officer of Citizens Bank.

Philadelphia will try to borrow or refinance more than $1 billion over the next nine months in the face of contentious tax reform, rising pension and public school costs, a flat private-business sector, tough labor negotiations, and the lowest credit rating among the largest U.S. cities. That's why Mayor Nutter and business executives invited 150 bond marketers, some of the giant institutional customers that own Philadelphia debt, and firms that invest in other big, higher-rated U.S. cities for closed-door presentations on the city's prospects Thursday.

The acrimony in the $297 million legal battle between local developer J. Brian O'Neill and Citizens Bank, and how it has played out in public, was on the mind of Common Pleas Court Judge Albert W. Sheppard Jr. at a pretrial hearing in his Philadelphia courtroom Wednesday. The judge apologized to attorneys for comments he had made to The Inquirer about how much the megalawsuit was costing to litigate. "I have a very high opinion of these lawyers involved here," he said Wednesday.

Online banking operations at Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania were disrupted for several hours on Friday by what the bank described only as a "technical issue. " By late afternoon, Citizens said, business was fully operational, though online customers experienced residual delays because of high volume. For six days in early October, Bank of America customers also were slowed in, or prevented from, accessing their accounts online. It also cited a technical problem.

William L. Graham has been named chief executive officer of The SI Organization Inc., Valley Forge. Graham had been president of the Enterprise Integration Group within Lockheed Martin Corp. Lockheed Martin divested EIG in November, and EIG named itself The SI. The SI provides engineering and integration services. Emilio Cooper has joined Citizens Bank as executive vice president and retail director for Greater Philadelphia, with responsibility for more than 230 Citizens Bank branches in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

In an effort to reduce traffic congestion and revitalize urban and older suburban communities, Citizens Bank announced yesterday that it will offer larger mortgage loans to home buyers who purchase property close to bus stops or train stations and agree to limit the number of cars they own. Under the "Smart Commute" program, which begins this week in Philadelphia and the four surrounding counties in Pennsylvania, the bank will increase loan amounts...

A man brandishing a fake beard and a silver handgun robbed a Citizens Bank in Whitpain Township on Sunday, police said. Township police gave few details of the heist, which they said took place at 11:05 a.m. at a branch at 48 Skippack Pike. Police were asking for help in identifying the man, who they said was white, stood 6 feet tall, and weighed about 180 pounds. He was wearing a fake reddish-blond wig and sunglasses. Anyone with information should call 610-279-9033. - Tom Infield

Philadelphia banking veteran Daniel K. Fitzpatrick is moving from Bank of America to Citizens Bank, where he will lead operations in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Fitzpatrick, 44, had been Bank of America Corp.'s top commercial-banking executive in Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware, as well as president of Bank of America in Pennsylvania. Stephen D. Steinour, who used to head Citizens Bank's operations here, said yesterday that his own promotion this year to chief executive officer of Citizens Financial Group Inc., of Providence, R.I., made it hard for him to spend much time working in the Philadelphia market, although he still lives here.

A 28-year-old Fishtown man has been charged with two bank robberies in Northeast Philadelphia, police said Tuesday. Brandon Shields was arrested Monday at an apartment complex in Wynnewood by members of the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force and Lower Merion police. Shields, of the 1100 block of East Eyre Street, allegedly robbed a PNC Bank at 6855 Frankford Ave. on Dec. 7 and a Citizens Bank at 6537 Castor Ave. on Jan. 6. - Robert Moran