Former Citizens Bank rep, relationship manager barred from industry

A former broker and relationship manager with Citizens Bank was booted out of the industry last week by FINRA.

Christopher Ciccolini allegedly swiped $1,035 from the bank by using a bank fee-rebate system to wrongfully move funds into his checking and savings accounts, FINRA claimed in a filing.

As a relationship manager, Ciccolini connected bank customers with financial consultants who provided investment-related services, including securities, FINRA said. He worked for both the bank and Citizens Securities in Arlington, Mass.

Between August 2015 and October 2015, Ciccolini processed 19 fee rebates totaling $1,035 to his accounts, allegedly using a tool to which he had access but to which he was not entitled, FINRA said. The bank prohibited employees from processing rebates—or any banking transactions—on their own behalf, FINRA claimed.

The misconduct apparently was triggered when Citizens charged Ciccolini $210 for overdrawing on his checking account on six occasions.

Ciccolini could not be reached for comment. In his settlement with FINRA, he neither admitted nor denied the charges but consented to an entry of FINRA's findings.

Ciccolini joined Citizens in May 2015 and was fired five months later when the bank became aware that he had been rebating his own account.

Steve Sylven, a spokesman for Citizens, declined to comment on the matter.

Ciccolini is among at least seven bank reps barred from the industry this year. James Van Doren, a former Citigroup rep, was expelled in May for purportedly engaging in money laundering and helping a business associate deceive creditors. David Michael Miller, formerly with Huntington National Bank, was banned in May for allegedly making unsuitable recommendations in unit investment trusts and ordered to pay more than $800,000 in restitution and disgorgement. Another transgressor—Kenneth Lynn Miller of First Tennessee Bank—was expelled in March for failing to cooperate with a FINRA investigation into allegations that he stole $950,000 from retail bank customers.