Hassan Pirnia joined First National as our President and Chief Executive Officer in November 2026. With more than 25 years’ experience across mortgage lending, banking, and risk management at two of Canada’s leading financial institutions, Hassan brings unique perspectives and vision to this key leadership role.
What made you choose financial services as your life’s work?
Financial services is an exciting and constantly evolving industry. It starts with relationships and combines analytics and technology together to make a meaningful difference to customers. In Canada particularly, the industry serves as the heartbeat of the economy. When we do our jobs well, families buy homes, businesses grow and communities flourish. Being part of an evolving industry means the opportunity to stay in touch with the economy, interest rates, housing trends, technology and customer behaviour. It means waking up each day to something different. That’s exciting but most exciting to me is financial services is a people business, and that’s kept me engaged over the past two and half decades.
Why First National and why now?
I’ve followed First National since I entered the industry back in 2000. I experienced the company as a competitor, as a partner and as a client and I’ve always admired what this team has built and what First National stands for. To lead this business is a dream come true. Why now is easy. This is a pivotal time as we navigate fundamental changes in the economy, embrace technological advancements and start a new chapter of ownership with stakeholder capital and deep financial expertise provided by Birch Hill Equity Partners and Brookfield Asset Management along with Stephen Smith and Moray Tawse, our founders. Housing is also a national priority and First National is right where Canada needs us to be: helping families purchase homes and financing rental housing supply.
First National is a relentless supporter of mortgage brokers and you appear to be as well. What would you like First National’s mortgage broker partners to know?
That we want to be their number one choice for prime mortgages, Excalibur Alt-A mortgages and multi-unit residential mortgages. I want them to know that First National is a broker-first, client-obsessed lender that recognizes and respects the extraordinary value of the channel. And I want to emphasize that our commitment to brokers – to speed, certainty, consistent underwriting and responsiveness – will not change. If anything, we hope to be even better for them.
First National is Canada’s leader in insured multi-unit residential property lending. What would you like property developers and asset owners to know?
Commercial lending is at the core of our business. We have a proven playbook and more importantly, we have the best people in the industry. As a result, our clients should expect continuity of approach from us, and that means the same certainty of execution. I would also observe that First National has been on hand to lend across every business cycle for the past 38 years. That level of reliability makes us different from lenders who are only present during the good times. When times are tough, we will be there.
How much emphasis will you place on innovation going forward?
Innovation will be a major priority for us, and that’s good because inventing new and novel approaches is part of our DNA and our heritage as a business. Consider that the market’s first underwriting system was developed right here at First National back in the 1980s. As a technology, Merlin supported our rise in the broker channel, demonstrated the value of innovation and arguably made First National one of Canada’s first fintechs. Going forward, we will lean in to build on our reputation.
Do you consider artificial intelligence an opportunity or a threat?
To me, AI is an enabler that solves problems quickly, creates higher levels of efficiency and helps us to get to yes faster. However, our approach to developing and using AI is clear: our people will stay in the loop on every decision that matters. Human judgement – the capacity to reason, discern and separate what is true from something that is merely correct – will always have a place at First National.
How well do you think your big bank experience will translate into leading First National, Canada’s largest non-bank mortgage lender?
I think it will translate very well. Canada’s banks are highly regulated and among the biggest employers in the country and because of that, they are highly structured and must be highly disciplined to achieve their goals and manage risks. However, at times, those checks and balances slow their work. Knowing this, what I want to do is bring the best of those practices to First National so that we merge our can-do, entrepreneurial spirit and industry expertise with disciplined performance measurement and data-driven decision making. Together, we can build a company that acts as fast as an entrepreneur and is as disciplined as a bank.
Can you describe your key leadership philosophies?
I would say the big three are Accountability, Boldness and Collaboration – those are my ABCs. Accountability means doing exactly what you said you would do when you said you would do it. When you hold yourself accountable, you take personal responsibility for delivering on your priorities and that is critically important in every role in every business. Boldness means a willingness to make decisions, sometimes without the benefit of perfect information. It involves thinking outside the box but within accepted risk guardrails. And Collaboration is about working as one team to get the job done. My experience over the past 25 years has shown that when those ABCs are fully integrated and embraced, teams win.
So must all three principles be embraced together?
Yes. For example, Boldness without Accountability creates chaos and leads to reckless behaviour, whereas Accountability without Collaboration leads to the creation of silos which slows down processes.
Should we expect bold decisions and bold new ways of doing things?
Absolutely. My aim is to remove obstacles to progress so we can gain speed and quality at the same time. In part, this will involve removing unnecessary complexity. We’re in a really good position to do that with assists from technology and the tribal knowledge of our team. I would also note that our business is built on superior risk management and underwriting and we’re not going to be bold by loosening our credit capabilities. They are foundational to First National and have given us, by far, one of the best performing mortgage books in the industry. That’s a point of pride.