First Bank (Romania)

First Bank was a Romanian bank founded in 1995 as Pater Bank. It was acquired by Italian group Intesa Sanpaolo in May 2024 and merged with Intesa Sanpaolo's Romanian branch (Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Romania) on 31 October 2025.

First Bank

Formerly	Piraeus Bank Romania (2000-2018) Pater Bank (1995-2000)
Company type	Societate pe Acțiuni (S.A.)
Industry	Financial services
Founded	May 3, 1995; 30 years ago (1995-05-03)
Headquarters	Bucharest , Romania
Area served	Romania
Key people	Henk Paardekooper (CEO)
Total assets	EUR 1.479 billion (31 December 2024)
Owner	Independent (1995–2000) Piraeus Bank (2000–2018) J.C. Flowers & Co. (2018–2024) Intesa Sanpaolo (2024–present)
Number of employees	959 (2023)
Website	firstbank.ro

History

Five years after it was founded, Pater Bank was sold in 2000 to Piraeus Bank,^[1] and its name was changed to reflect its new owner. Piraeus Bank sold its Romanian subsidiary to J.C. Flowers & Co. on 28 June 2018, who changed the bank's name to First Bank on 12 September 2018.^[2]

As of the following month, its shareholding structure became as follows:^[3]

• J.C. Flowers & Co. - 76.1%
• EBRD - 19%
• Natural persons - 4.9%

In April 2020, First Bank acquired and absorbed the Romanian subsidiary of Bank Leumi.

Acquisition by Intesa Sanpaolo and subsequent merger

In May 2024, the Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo finalised the acquisition of Romanian lender First Bank, thus expanding its footprint in Romania.^[4]

On 31 October 2025, Intesa Sanpaolo merged First Bank into its Romanian branch (Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Romania), thus discontinuing the 'First Bank' brand in Romania.^[5]

See also

• Banks portal

• List of banks in Romania
• J.C. Flowers & Co.