Company: FCNCB
Filing Date: 2025-02-21
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000798941-25-000010
Chunk: 253

Company: FIRST CITIZENS BANCSHARES INC /DE/
Filing Date: 2025-02-21
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 253
---
 in a highly competitive industry, and we expect competition to intensify. We compete with other banks and specialized financial services providers in our market areas for customers, sources of revenue, capital, services, qualified employees and other essential business resources. Our primary competitors include local, regional and national banks; credit unions; commercial finance companies; leasing companies; various wealth management providers; private equity firms; hedge funds; independent and captive insurance agencies; mortgage companies; and other non-bank providers of financial services. Some of our larger competitors, including certain banks with a significant presence in our market areas, have the capacity to offer products and services we do not offer, which may enable them to be more aggressive than us in competing for loans and deposits. Some of our non-bank competitors operate in less stringent regulatory environments, and certain competitors are not subject to federal or state income taxes. The fierce competitive pressures that we face adversely affect pricing and other terms for many of our products and services, and we could lose business to competitors or be forced to price products and services on less advantageous terms to retain or attract clients, either of which would adversely affect our profitability.

We also compete with banks and other financial services companies for deposits. If competitors raise the rates they pay on deposits, our funding costs may increase, either because we raise rates to avoid losing deposits or because we lose deposits and must rely on more expensive sources of funding. In addition, checking and savings account balances and other forms of customer deposits may decrease when customers perceive alternative investments, such as the stock market, as providing a better risk/return trade-off. Our bank customers could take their money out of FCB and put it in alternative investments, causing us to lose a lower-cost source of funding.

Additionally, technology and other changes are allowing parties to complete financial transactions that historically have involved banks through alternative methods without involving banks. For example, consumers can now maintain funds that would have historically been held as bank deposits in brokerage accounts, mutual funds or virtual accounts. Consumers can also complete transactions, such as paying bills or transferring funds directly without the assistance of banks. Transactions utilizing digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and other similar assets, have increased substantially. Certain characteristics of digital asset transactions, such as the speed with which such transactions can be conducted, the ability to transact without the involvement of regulated intermediaries, the ability to engage in transactions across multiple jurisdictions, and the anonymous nature of the transactions, are appealing to certain consumers. Accordingly, digital asset service providers, which, at present, are not subject to