First Niagara Bank
The Great Falls of Niagara, a splendid natural creation of art, drops 168,000 cubic meters per six million cubic feet of crystal clear water every minute. It’s a vast network of water falls, gracefully curtaining the edges of the Niagara River. It powers nearby cities and the rest of the United States and Canada. It brings in millions of tourists every year, driving the American economy as strong as its current, as fast as its great rapids.
A few blocks away from the National Park, a company is thriving. As important as the currents of the Niagara Falls, are the daily operations of a community bank. This company is the First Niagara Bank.
The First Niagara Bank is owned and operated by the First Niagara Financial Group. It trades in the NASDAQ using the symbol FNFG. The bank has headquarters in Lockport, New York. The company currently has assets worth of $8 billion, employs more than one thousand eight hundred workers and operates more than one hundred twenty branches across twenty four counties in the State of New York.
The First Niagara Bank was founded in the year 1870. More than one hundred thirty five years ago, a bank opened in one of the suburbs in Buffalo. This company was called the Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank, the site of the bank was in Lockport, New York. The bank was built to address the financial needs of the people in the community, particularly in the farming and mechanics sector.
In the year 1967, the Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank was changed to Lockport Savings Bank. It expanded its operations by opening more branches. In the 1990s, the Lockport Savings Bank reached the Buffalo market and the nearby communities in the Erie County. Over the course of time, the Lockport Savings Bank went many changes including the transformation to a mutual bank. Several merger agreements and acquisitions were also made.
The holding company of the First Niagara Bank, FNFG, was established only in the year 1998. This followed after the transformation of the First Niagara to stock savings firm from being a mutual bank. The trade secret of the company was called the Buy and Build Business Strategy. It’s a common strategy however to make merger and acquire companies. But the company was able to do it in a more effective way making itself as a multi-market community firm.
Among the companies that the First Niagara Financial group acquired and merge with are Hudson River, Bancorp Inc., the Troy Financial Corporation, Finger Lakes Bancorp, Iroquois Bancorp, CNY Financial Corporation, Albion Banc Corp, Savannah Bank, Gernold Agency Inc, Hatch Leonard Naples Inc, LA Lama Insurance Agency, Loomis & Company Inc, Costello, Dreher, Kaiser Insurance, Agency Corporation, Warren-Hoffman and Associates, the Niagara Investment Advisors Inc, Adirondack Leasing Associates Limited, Empire National Leasing Inc, Burke Group Inc, DAS Business Services, Health Plan Administrators and the Allied Claims Services Inc. All mergers and acquisitions were completed between the years 2000 and 2005.
Because of this buy and build company strategy, the bank is now able to reach more customers and offer more services. The First Niagara Bank Online Banking is just one of the many innovative services. The First Niagara Bank has transformed from a simple community bank to an institution offering a comprehensive range of financial products and services. Standing on the ground where it was first built, the First Niagara Bank today still operates on the same visions of its first founders. Because of its keen attention to customer relationship, it has now reached total deposits of $5.8 billion, as mentioned on the First Niagara Bank Home Page.