First National Bank was a bank in Philadelphia. Chartered in 1863, it was the first national bank created under the banking reforms of the Civil War that began to define the modern U.S. banking system, and the first commercial bank to issue a federal banknote. It operated independently until 1955, when it was merged into the Bank of North America and Trust Company, which now is part of Wells Fargo.

The National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 were two United States federal banking acts that established a system of national banks, and created the United States National Banking System. They encouraged development of a national currency backed by bank holdings of U.S. Treasury securities and established the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as part of the United States Department of the Treasury and a system of nationally chartered banks. The Act shaped today's national banking system and its support of a uniform U.S. banking policy.