Citizens names new general counsel

Providence, Rhode Island-based Citizens Financial Group has hired Polly Klane as general counsel and chief legal officer, effective April 4.

Klane will join Citizens from Capital One Financial Corp, where most recently she has been senior vice president and deputy general counsel. She will report to chair and CEO Bruce Van Saun and will be a member of the Citizens executive committee.

Klane is taking up the general counsel role from Malcolm Griggs, Citizens’ chief risk officer (CRO), who has been overseeing the bank’s legal department. Griggs will continue as CRO and a member of the executive committee.

During her time at Capital One, Klane has managed legal teams responsible for corporate governance, transactions, securities, commercial banking, capital markets, intellectual property, treasury, cyber-security, technology and data privacy.

According to her LinkedIn profile, her previous experience includes being senior vice president and deputy general counsel for corporate and securities at Fannie Mae during the financial crisis. The profile states that earlier in her career she spent a further eight years at Capital One including as managing vice president and associate general counsel.

Griggs joined Citizens in 2014 as executive vice president and chief credit officer. He moved to Citizens from Citigroup, where he was head of business risk and controls for the US commercial and consumer banking businesses.

Van Saun says in a statement: ‘Polly brings tremendous breadth and depth of experience with large financial services and technology-focused organizations. She will add significant value to Citizens as a counselor and culture carrier, helping us drive our ongoing transformation as we seek to deliver sustainable growth and become a top-performing regional bank.’