First Niagara Financial Group announced the appointment of Paul Cronin as Senior Vice President, Senior Managing Director, Capital Markets.
 
Cronin reports to Joseph Saffire, Executive Vice President, Commercial Financial Services, and is responsible for leading First Niagara's Capital Markets Group, with a focus on loan syndications and private placements. He will also be responsible for the company's international trade and foreign exchange services and will oversee development of new capital markets products and services.

Cronin has more than 25 years of experience in banking, capital markets and accounting, and is familiar with many of the markets that First Niagara serves. He joins First Niagara from HSBC Bank USA, where he most recently served as regional head of corporate banking for Northeast, including New York City. Prior to that, he was regional head of corporate banking for the Midwest and Upstate New York, including Buffalo, N.Y. Prior to HSBC, he held various senior positions at RBS Citizens, LaSalle Bank, and ABN AMRO Bank.

He will operate from the company's Norwalk and Philadelphia offices.

First Niagara, through its wholly owned subsidiary, First Niagara Bank, N.A., is a multi-state community-oriented bank with approximately 410 branches, $38 billion in assets, $28 billion in deposits, and approximately 5,800 employees providing financial services to individuals, families and businesses across New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts.