UPDATE: First Financial Sold NT$80 Million Notes Linked To GM
03 Juni 2009 - 12:18PM
Dow Jones News
First Financial Holding Co. (2892.TW) sold NT$80 million worth
of structured notes linked to General Motors Corp. (GM) to retail
customers, the financial services provider said Wednesday.
The notes are principal-protected, so the investors won't suffer
any losses, said Annie Lee, an investor relations official at First
Financial, in a conference call.
Lee also said First Financial's planned capital injection of
NT$3 billion into its wholly owned First Commercial Bank Co., the
island's fifth-largest bank by assets, reflects concerns that the
unit won't report "robust" results this year.
First Commercial's first-quarter net profit totaled NT$1.62
billion, down 54% from NT$3.53 billion a year earlier, mainly
because of a sharp drop in fee income, the parent company said in a
statement Wednesday.
Lee said First Financial is also looking to buy a brokerage
firm. She declined to elaborate.
-By Perris Lee Choon Siong, Dow Jones Newswires;
+8862-2502-2557; perris.lee@dowjones.com