Citizens Commercial Banking established a West Region, hiring David Musicant as its first leader, and tapped a new leader for its Midwest Region, naming Jim Malz Ohio president.

These moves bring additional local focus and expertise to bear as Citizens continues to grow its nationwide roster of corporate clients.

Musicant, based in Los Angeles, has more than 30 years of banking experience and most recently served as a managing director at Fifth Third Bank where he led their geographic expansion on the West Coast. Prior to that, he had a 20-year career at Union Bank, most recently serving as group head of their Specialized Industries/Expansion Markets team.

The West Region team will serve existing and new corporate banking clients in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Previously, Citizens had announced the West Coast expansion of its Commercial Real Estate business.

Malz will serve as the new Midwest Region executive in addition to his other duties. Based in Cleveland, Malz joins Citizens after a successful 18-year career with JP Morgan, where he was most recently head of the Middle Market Banking and Specialized Industries business in Ohio. Malz succeeds Joseph Giampetroni, who will be leaving Citizens to pursue other opportunities.

“Dave and Jim are both proven leaders in their regions who have long track records of building and leading corporate banking teams and fostering strong partnerships with clients,” said Steve Woods, head of corporate banking at Citizens. “Establishing the West Region builds off the great success we have had in the Southeast Region at expanding the Commercial Bank beyond Citizens’ traditional retail footprint. It is a natural extension for Citizens Commercial Banking and will enable us to continue our current strong momentum and grow our client base.”

In addition to leading the Midwest Region, Malz succeeds Ralph M. Della Ratta as Ohio president. Della Ratta will continue in his role as co-head of Citizens Capital Markets’ mergers and acquisitions advisory business, delivering strategic expertise and advice to clients.