Our firm is investigating First Citizens Investor Services and First Citizens Asset Management for potentially underpaying clients on uninvested cash balances between 2022 and 2025 — while the Federal Reserve raised rates to a 20-year high. If you have concerns about your First Citizens brokerage, retirement, or advisory account, a free, confidential review is available.
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When you hold cash in a First Citizens brokerage, retirement or investment advisory account — money waiting to be invested, proceeds from a sale, or a dividend payment — First Citizens Investor Services (FCIS) and First Citizens Asset Management (FCAM) may automatically transfer that cash into what is called the Bank Deposit Option. Your money may be deposited at First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company (FCB), and you earn interest on that deposit.
The problem is what happened to the interest rate between 2022 and 2025. When the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate from near zero to over 5% — the fastest rate-hiking cycle in four decades — the rate First Citizens paid its brokerage, retirement and advisory clients on Bank Deposit Option balances appears to have barely moved. Meanwhile, First Citizens Bank earned significantly higher returns on the assets funded by those same deposits, keeping the difference as profit.
Why This May Be Unlawful
Our firm is investigating whether First Citizens Investor Services and First Citizens Asset Management may have financially harmed their clients by retaining unlawfully excessive spread revenue on its clients’ cash deposits and holdings — and whether their account agreements and program disclosures committed the firm to rate-setting practices that were later abandoned without client notification.
Similar class action lawsuits have been filed against other major brokerages and banks challenging similar types of cash sweep practices.
This investigation is ongoing. No lawsuit has been filed and no court has found wrongdoing.
Manfred, APC is a boutique plaintiff-side complex litigation firm representing individuals, investors, and policyholders in complex financial disputes. With over 20 years’ experience, Manfred, APC is a trusted and reliable firm dedicated to combatting unlawful financial and investment practices.
Manfred P. Muecke is licensed to practice law in California and Oregon. Submitting a claim form does not create an attorney-client relationship.
First Citizens Investor Services and First Citizens Asset Management may automatically transfer uninvested cash in your brokerage or advisory account into the Bank Deposit Option, where it earns interest at First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company. First Citizens acts as a middleman between you and the bank — and the bank pays First Citizens at a rate that may be substantially higher than the interest rate it passes along to you as a client. The difference is profit for First Citizens.
No. Former clients who held accounts during the relevant period (generally 2022–2025) may also be eligible to participate in this investigation. If you left First Citizens within the last 18 months and held an account during that period, you may retain standing to participate in the case investigation.
These investigations are ongoing; no lawsuit has been filed by this firm and no court has found that any financial institution named on this page, or any affiliated entity, has engaged in any wrongdoing.
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