First Financial Holding Co., Ltd. was incorporated on January 2, 2003 with First Commercial Bank as its flagship entity. It is listed on Taiwan Stock Exchange under the stock code 2892.

Founded in 1899, First Bank was one of the three government-affiliated banks with the mission to allocate credit to underserved industrial and commercial businesses, finance national infrastructure, and serve as an underlying force of Taiwan’s great economic advancement. In 1998, First Bank became the largest private-owned bank on the island after privatization. Since then it has been able to secure leadership positions in such selected areas as the corporate banking, SME business, home mortgages, mutual-fund distribution, trade finance, deposit and lending. It currently owns 190 branches at home along with 26 overseas branches and representative offices including the U.S. subsidiary of First Commercial Bank (USA).

With the historical groundwork well laid by First Bank, First Financial Holding Co. further diversified its business portfolio into securities trading, property and casualty insurance and asset management on July 31, 2003, by acquiring First Taisec Securities Co., Ltd., Mingtai Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd. and National Investment Trust Co., Ltd. On July 28, 2003, it successfully raised the equivalent of NT$17.3 billion via a global depository receipt program, the first ever issued by a Taiwanese financial institution, which significantly shored up capital bases of the group and its subsidiaries. From May through September of 2004, in its second round of penetrating into new markets to deliver full product range and high quality services, First Financial Holding Co. established First Financial Asset Management Co., Ltd., First Venture Capital Co., Ltd., First Financial Management Consulting Co., Ltd., and First P&C Insurance Agency Co., Ltd.

First Financial Holding, in an aim to capture growth in wealth management, expand product offerings, retain clients and address personal retirement planning needs, sought to form a joint venture with U.K’s largest insurer Aviva in 2007. First-Aviva Life, a 51:49 joint-venture between the two companies, was incorporated on December 11, 2007.

In order to solidify group image, raise popular awareness of its subsidiaries and promote employee loyalty, First Financial Holding rebranded subsidiaries First Taisec Securities, National Securities Investment Trust and First Taisec Capital Management under the names “First Securities”, “First Securities Investment Trust” and “First Capital Management” on December 31, 2008. And in September of 2009, First-Aviva’s Chinese brand was successfully renamed.

First Financial Holding Co., Ltd. focuses on resource deployment in emerging markets in the Asia Pacific region and assisting its subsidiaries to expand overseas businesses. In order to increase its operation scale, First Financial Holding successfully completed the rights issues of 800 million new shares on September 29, 2011 and raised capital by NT$16,400 million. The proceeds was then injected into its subsidiaries, including the bank and the venture capital company, to augment and strengthen their working capital and capital structure, and to assist them in their long term business developments. With regard to market expansion in China, First Financial Holding maintains its bank-centric mode, bundled with its banking subsidiary, leasing services compliments, opened the Shanghai Branch on December 23, 2010, making First Bank the leading Taiwanese player to commence branch operation in that city. Following that, affiliated FCB Leasing Co., set up a subsidiary in Suzhou which came into operation on March 30, 2011. First Group pioneered to be the first financial institution to receive approval from the authorities to extend reach via China’s “Green Channel,” in a bid for a second bank branch and leasing company in Chengdu on October 14, 2011 and October 26, 2011, respectively, with that affiliated leasing company officially established on January 5, 2012.