First Niagara Bank Headquarters Information

First Niagara Bank was a regional banking corporation. The bank was based in Buffalo, NY and was insured the FDIC. It was the principal subsidiary of First Niagara Financial Group, Inc.

By mid-2013, the parent company had assets valued at over $37.1 billion and it was ranked the 44^th largest bank in the States. The bank was acquired by Keybank in 2016, bringing an end to its over 100-year history.

At the time of the acquisition, the bank’s assets were valued at 40.02 billion. It was also providing employment to approximately 5000 people.

History of First Niagara Bank

First Niagara was founded as Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank in 1870. It would keep this name until 1967 when it was rebranded Lockport Savings Bank. It would use this name until the year 2000 when it was finally branded First Niagara.

For most of the bank’s existence, it was based in Niagara, the county where it was established. However, this changed when it finally expanded into Buffalo, NY and the nearby Erie County.

The expansion of the bank into this region had much to do with the recent collapse of two banks that had major operations in Buffalo; Empire of America and Goldome. However, much of the growth was as a result of attracting new customers rather than acquiring the assets of existing financial institutions.

In 1998, the bank entered the insurance business after it acquired Warren-Hoffman & Associates Inc., an insurance brokerage firm. Following the bank’s acquisition of Albion Bancorp in Albion, NY, the bank had 22 branch offices in total.

Other purchases and acquisitions that would be made by the bank later included:

• Cayuga Bank of Auburn, NY
• Cortland Savings Bank in Cortland, NY
• Bank of Finger Lakes in Geneva, NY
• Troy Savings Bank in Albany, New York
• Hudson River Bank and Trust from Hudson, NY
• Great Lakes Bancorp (parent company of Greater Buffalo Savings Bank); the transaction cost $153 million and added 16 branches to the bank). The transaction made First Niagara the 4^th largest bank in the region of Buffalo-Niagara.
• Harleysville National in Pennsylvania; this resulted in a bank with assets worth $19.7 billion and with 254 branches

In October 2015, First Niagara and KeyCopr agreed to a purchase and this signaled the end of First Niagara Bank.

First Niagara Headquarters

Before it’s acquisition, First Niagara Bank was headquartered at the Larkin Terminal Warehouse at 726 Exchange Street in Buffalo, NY.

The neighborhood in which the building is located is known as the ‘Hydraulics’ and it’s one of the city’s oldest industrial districts.

There is a radio tower on top of the building which was put up back in 1936. The building is quite old, with construction having taken place between 1911 and 1912.

The original owner of the building was the Larkin Company who had it until 1967 when they sold it to Graphics Controls.

The building has 10 floors and is served by 6 elevators. To the top of the antenna, the building is 286 feet high. It has a floor area of 600,000 square feet.

First Niagara Bank Headquarters Address

726 Exchange St, Buffalo, NY 14210, USA

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