First-e Group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- First-e was an European online bank during the Dot-com bubble of 1998-2001. The company was based in Dublin, Ireland and employed 280 people, with 200,000 customers.[1] It operated on a license from French bank Banque d'Escompte,[1] an innovation that allowed it to get around the usual difficulties faced by European banking startups.[2] It launched with £370m in funding,[3] and initially targeted the British market with a savings interest rate 2% higher than its high-street competitors, and gained 50,000 customers.[4]
A 2.4 billion Euro[5] merger with the Spanish online bank Uno-e was proposed 2000,[2] but after the dotcom bubble burst in late 2000, the merger was called off in April 2001.[6][7] First-e shut down in October 2001.[1][8]
First-e was owned by the Enba group of companies, owned by Gerhard Huber, Peter Phillips and Sean Donlon, a former Irish ambassador to the US.[9]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "First-e bank to close in UK and Germany". BBC News. 7 September 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1530280.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ a b Echikson, William (15 May 2000). "Euro E-Bank Whiz". BusinessWeek. http://www.businessweek.com/archives/2000/b3681105.arc.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ Murphy, David (20 September 2000). "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. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/the-garage-that-went-global-it-came-from-humble-beginnings-but-this-duos-pound1bn-business-could-shake-up-banking-around-the-world-in-the-next-12-months-700124.html. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ Fairlamb, David (25 October 1999). "E-Day: Online Banks Invade Europe". BusinessWeek. http://www.businessweek.com/archives/1999/b3652129.arc.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ Garfield, Andrew (7 March 2000). "Uno-e and First-e plan global e-bank". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/unoe-and-firste-plan-global-ebank-722654.html. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ "First-e: bleak future for jilted eBank". Computer Business Review. 26 April 2001. http://www.cbronline.com/comment/first_e_bleak_future_for_jilted_ebank. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ "Enba and Uno-e scrap plans for merger". RTÉ. 20 April 2001. http://www.rte.ie/news/2001/0420/enba-business.html. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ Jones, Rupert (8 September 2001). "Internet bank First-e to close". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2001/sep/08/saving.onlinebanking. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
- ^ Daly, Gavin (30 October 2005). "Enba winding up with €256m losses". Sunday Business Post. http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2005/10/30/story9240.asp. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
[edit] External links
- first-e website on the Internet Archive
- Announcement of closure by Banque d'Escompte
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