financier

noun

fi·​nan·​cier ˌfi-nən-ˈsir 

fə-ˌnan-, 

ˌfī-

plural financiers

1

: one who deals with finance and investment on a large scale

… they found a wealthy financier to back their own chain of big-box hardware stores …

—Patricia Sellers

When panic struck, Wall Street financiers did take advantage of the collapsing financial markets to enhance their own profits and gobble up corporations.

—William Greider

2

: one who specializes in raising and expending public monies

… John Law, the Scottish financier who for a time controlled the French economy and was largely responsible for the forced colonization of Louisiana …

—Stanley Kauffmann

3

: a small sweet usually rectangular cake made with brown butter, egg whites, and almonds

… the classic French pastry called the financier is exquisitely refined. It is springy, sweet and nutty with an exterior that's as crisp as an eggshell.

—Amanda Hesser

I made my financiers in a mini muffin pan. Traditionally they were baked in a rectangular mold that resembles a bar of gold.

—Ann Christenson

Examples of financier in a Sentence

A group of powerful financiers bought out the company.

Recent Examples on the Web

In Haugesund, Jóhannsdóttir will be looking for co-producers, co-financiers, sales and distribution. — Annika Pham, Variety, 21 Aug. 2026

Scam networks generate the proceeds, while underground financiers launder and move the money through many of the same channels Chinese clients use to move private wealth offshore. — Alvin Camba, Foreign Affairs, 21 Aug. 2026

The club has roughly 350 members and has historically attracted doctors, attorneys, financiers, real-estate developers, entrepreneurs and other prominent South Florida figures. — Joshua Hong, Fortune, 21 Aug. 2026

Khrzhanovsky took to Facebook on Thursday to post a point-by-point rebuttal of the criticism of his film and claims linking him, the film’s financiers, and DAU actor Teodor Currentzis to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 20 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, going back to Middle French, "person who manages monetary affairs," from finance "money, resource" + -ier -ier — more at finance entry 1

Note: The reason for the pastry name has not been clarified. A pastry called financier is apparently first mentioned in Le nouveau pâtissier-glacier français et étranger (Paris, 1865) by the French pastry chef and culinary historian Pierre Lacam (1836-1902). Lacam actually gives two recipes: one, called financier, for an almond cake baked in a flat fluted mold, and another, called financières, for an almond cake baked in a savarin mold pan, served with vanilla icing and apricot in the center. Decades later, in Le mémorial historique et géographique de la pâtisserie, 5^e édition (Paris, 1900), Lacam notes that the savarin mold version garnished with fruit, which he now calls financier, was created by "Lasnes, rue Saint-Denis." The other version, now called la financière, baked in a Genoa cake mold pan, "was created in Rennes and has always been popular in Brittany" ("La financière a étée créée à Rennes et a toujours eu sa vogue en Bretagne"). According to a story appearing in recent publications (see references in the English and French Wikipedia articles), the financier was revived around 1890 by a pastry maker named Lasne. As his shop was near the Bourse, much of his clientele was made up of financiers wishing to eat a pastry on the go without soiling their fingers. Lasne hence thought of changing the financier to a cake without fruit or icing and baking it in a rectangular mold suggesting that of a gold ingot. Of course, this explanation, true or not, in no way accounts for the pastry's original name. Moreover, as the editors of the French Wikipedia point out, rue Saint-Denis, where Lacam places Lasne's patisserie, was not near the Bourse in the Palais Brongniart, and his location on that street apparently only existed between 1828 and 1850—not around 1890.

First Known Use

1601, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for financier

• auctioneer
• bandelier
• belvedere
• bombardier
• brigadier
• buccaneer
• cavalier
• chandelier
• chanticleer
• chevalier
• commandeer
• disappear

Kids Definition

financier

noun

fin·​an·​cier

ˌfin-ən-ˈsi(ə)r, 

fə-ˌnan-, 

ˌfī-nan-

: a person who specializes in finance and especially in the financing of businesses

Legal Definition

financier

noun

fi·​nan·​cier

1

: one who specializes in raising and expending public moneys

2

: one who deals with finance and investment on a large scale