Carmine Abbate serves as First Senior Vice President and Chief Credit Officer at First Bank. In this role, he oversees the Bank’s credit administration function, including underwriting, workout activities, and providing guidance to relationship managers. He is responsible for maintaining the Bank’s lending policies and procedures, approving loans within his designated authority, and helping to ensure the overall quality and performance of the Bank’s loan portfolio.
Carmine brings more than 25 years of banking experience to his position, including over 20 years in credit leadership and administration. Prior to joining First Bank, he served as Chief Credit Officer for several community banks, most recently Northfield Bank, where he oversaw underwriting, workout, and credit administration functions for eight years. Earlier in his career, he was a Senior Credit Officer at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, where he was responsible for the bank’s large corporate and oil and gas lending portfolio. Throughout his career, Carmine has developed extensive expertise in credit risk management, loan portfolio administration, underwriting, and commercial lending.
Carmine earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business and completed the Stonier School of Banking Leadership Program. He is committed to supporting financial education and industry collaboration, having volunteered with Junior Achievement to provide financial literacy programs for middle school students. He also participates in the OCC Chief Credit Officer Roundtable for Community Banks, where industry leaders share insights and best practices in community banking and credit management.
