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First-e Group

First-e was a European online bank during the Dot-com bubble of 1999–2001. The company was based in Dublin, Ireland and employed 280 people, with 250,000 customers. It operated on a licence from French bank Banque d'Escompte, an innovation that allowed it to get around the usual difficulties faced by European banking startups.[1] It launched with €200m in funding from various institutions including Intel, Morgan Stanley and Apax Partners[2] and initially targeted the British market with a savings interest rate 2% higher than its high-street competitors, and gained 250,000 customers.[3]

A 2.4 billion euro[4] merger with the Spanish online bank Uno-e was proposed 2000,[1] but after the dotcom bubble burst in late 2000, parent company of Uno-e, BBVA called off the merger was in April 2001 and instead paid some €350m in compensation.[5] First-e then sold its business to Direkt Anlage Bank of Germany in October 2001.[6][7]

First-e was owned by the Enba group of companies, created by Gerhard Huber, Peter Phillips, Christian Kaiser, Nicholas Malcomson and Xavier Azalbert. Its Board included Sean Donlon, a former Irish ambassador to the US and the late Sir Nicholas Redmayne who was also its chairman.[8]

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References

  1. William Echikson. Euro E-Bank Whiz BusinessWeek, 15 May 2000, retrieved 2009-06-23^
  2. David Murphy. The garage that went global: It Came From Humble Beginnings, but this duo'S £1bn business could shake up banking around the world in the next 12 months Independent, 20 September 2000, retrieved 2009-06-23^
  3. David Fairlamb. E-Day: Online Banks Invade Europe BusinessWeek, 25 October 1999, retrieved 2009-06-23^
  4. Andrew Garfield. Uno-e and First-e plan global e-bank The Independent, 7 March 2000, retrieved 2009-06-23^
  5. Enba and Uno-e scrap plans for merger RTÉ, 20 April 2001, retrieved 2009-06-23^
  6. First-e bank to close in UK and Germany BBC News, 7 September 2001, retrieved 2009-06-23^
  7. Rupert Jones. Internet bank First-e to close The Guardian, 8 September 2001, retrieved 2009-06-23^
  8. Gavin Daly. Enba winding up with €256m losses Sunday Business Post, 30 October 2005, retrieved 2009-06-23^