First Financial posts profit gain as bank's fee income grows

First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), the nation's fifth-biggest financial group by assets, said that first-quarter earnings rose 3.7 percent from a year ago and that it expected growth momentum to continue, powered by its robust overseas lending and wealth management business.

The company's earnings increased to NT$2.96 billion (US$89.5 million), or NT$0.49 per share, in the January to March period, compared with NT$2.85 billion a year earlier.

Profit drivers came mainly from its banking arm, First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), which saw a jump of nearly 40 percent in fee income to NT$1.54 billion and a 25 percent rise in recovered bad loans to NT$629 million, company president Huang Hsien-chuan (黃獻全) said yesterday.

State-controlled First Financial expects its growth impetus to continue, driven by its fast growing business with overseas Taiwanese companies in the greater China area and Vietnam, as well as wealth management services, Huang said.

These are expected to support 20 percent to 30 percent growth in its fee income annually, he added.

The company hopes to lift the contribution of fee income to 20 percent of total income, from the current 18 percent, and overseas income to 30 percent, from 29 percent, this year, he said.

The company also plans to dispose of its 2.71 percent shareholding in Chang Hwa Bank (彰化銀行) this year, First Financial chairman Michael Chang (張兆順) said.

Aside from Chang Hwa Bank, First Financial has a 2.53 percent stake in Hua Nan Bank (華南銀行) and 2.43 percent holding in Taiwan Business Bank (臺灣企銀), Chang said, adding that these holdings translate into an estimated unrealized gain of NT$5 billion.

With its focus on corporate lending, First Financial was little affected by the consumer credit storm and was able to post earnings of NT$10.82 billion, or NT$1.81 per share, last year, up 23 percent from the year before.

The financial group plans to distribute NT$1 to NT$1.3 in dividends -- mainly in the form of cash -- to shareholders this year, it said.

"We are quite positive about the company's business this year," said Fiona Uang (汪姵吟), an analyst who tracks the financial sector at Mega Securities Co (兆豐證券).

The company is likely to see flat profits this year, but its share disposal plan could give a lift to earnings, Uang said.

First Financial said it hopes to raise annual earnings to NT$20 billion and its market share to 10 percent of the local banking industry three years from now.

Chang declined to comment on First Financial's reported interest in acquiring Taiwan Business Bank, where he used to serve as chairman, but said the company would not rule out expanding through mergers and acquisitions if the deal meets its goal of maintaining a 15 percent return on equity.

The company is also mulling securitizing its NT$32.5 billion of real estate to put its idle assets to better use, he added.