City National Bank expands in the Carolinas with Charlotte, Greenville offices

Zoom out: The Los Angeles-headquartered bank says the expansion, which includes basing nearly 120 employees across Charlotte and Greenville, is part of a long-term growth strategy and aims to meet client demand, complementing established locations in Atlanta, Nashville and Miami.

Zoom in: Although there's growing competition here, Charlie Arndt, executive vice president of the Middle Market Southeast Region, says the bank is introducing a "unique style of banking" to the Charlotte marketplace because of its connection to RBC, which has about $1.69 trillion in assets in U.S. dollars. RBC acquired City National in 2015.

• "We have the ability to operate both nimbly and flexibly in the United States as a regional bank," Arndt tells Axios, "but also be able to lean into our parent company's products and services and capabilities as a much larger multinational bank."
• Plus, it's easy to find and attract talent in Charlotte, he adds.

Driving the news: City National is leasing nearly 23,000 square feet on the seventh floor of One South in Charlotte. It also opened a 5,700-square-foot office in Greenville, S.C., about six months ago, and has plans to hire more to fill both spaces.

• The commercial banking division will anchor the new offices in the Carolinas, but City National will also operate other lines of business here: risk, audit and credit solutions.

Editor's note: We've updated this story with the bank's holdings in U.S. dollars.