First Niagara

First Niagara Bank, N.A. (First Niagara Financial Group)

Former type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: FNFG
Industry	Banking, Finance and Insurance
Fate	Acquired by KeyBank
Founded	Lockport, New York (1870)
Defunct	October 7, 2016
Headquarters	Larkin Terminal Warehouse 726 Exchange Street Buffalo, New York
Area served	Mid-Atlantic, New England
Key people	Gary M. Crosby (President and CEO) Joe Saffire (Executive Vice President) Greg Norwood (Chief Financial Officer) Mark Rendulic (Executive Vice President)
Products	Financial Services
Total assets	$40.02 billion (2016)
Number of employees	~5,000
Website	www.firstniagara.com

First Niagara Bank was a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-insured regional banking corporation headquartered in Buffalo, New York. Its parent company, First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. was the 44th-largest bank in the United States with assets of over $37.1 billion as of June 30, 2013.

It was founded in 1870 as Farmers and Mechanics' Savings Bank and was then re-branded as Lockport Savings Bank in 1967. In 2000 the bank was rebranded as First Niagara. The bank was based in its former home county, Niagara until the 1990s when it spread to nearby Buffalo, New York and its surrounding Erie County. Part of this growth could be attributed to the collapse of the Buffalo-centric banks Goldome and Empire of America. Most of this growth was from the recruitment of new customers, as opposed to the purchase of other firms' assets. Although, in 1998 the bank did purchase the regional insurance brokerage firm Warren-Hoffman & Associates Inc. as a means of entering the insurance business. First Niagara in 2000 acquired Albion Bancorp in Albion, NY Bring Banks branches up to 22.

In 2002, First Niagara acquired Cayuga Bank of Auburn, New York and Cortland Savings Bank in Cortland, New York. In 2003, First Niagara acquired the Bank of Finger Lakes in Geneva, New York. In 2004, First Niagara acquired Troy Savings Bank in Albany, New York. In 2005, First Niagara acquired Hudson River Bank and Trust in Hudson, New York.

In September 2007, it was announced that First Niagara was to purchase Great Lakes Bancorp, parent company of Greater Buffalo Savings Bank. The price to purchase the 16 branch bank was $153 million. With the nearly $900 million of assets of the Great Lakes Bancorp, First Niagara became the fourth largest bank in the Buffalo-Niagara region [1] [2]. In April 2009, First Niagara acquired 57 of the 61 of National City branches in Erie and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They were rebranded on Labor Day weekend in 2009. In conjunction with the expansion into Pittsburgh, First Niagara bought the naming rights for a concert venue, First Niagara Pavilion.