When it was created, the bank was the first heavyweight in French banking. It was founded by a group of industrialists (including Paulin Talabot who was its first director) and the Rothschild family under the Second Empire, on May 4, 1864, “to promote the development of trade and industry in France”. The first president of the bank was the influential Eugène Schneider (1805-1875), forge master at Le Creusot, followed by Guillaume Deninger, dit Denière, then by the Scotsman Edouard Blount. The bank then developed its network significantly in France, to have a total of 32 posts in the provinces in 1870, including 15 in Paris.