First Active

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

First Active Plc

Type	Subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland
Founded	1861
Headquarters	Throughout Ireland, HQ in Dublin
Industry	Financial services
Products	Various Banking Products
Employees	4800 (2004)
Website	www.firstactive.ie

First Active offers a range of mortgage, savings, investment, pension and life assurance products in the Republic of Ireland and are the sole provider of Current Account Mortgages in the Irish marketplace.

[edit] History of First Active

First Active was founded in 1861 as the Workingman's Benefit Building Society. It was incorporated in Ireland in 1875 under the Building Societies Act, 1874. In 1960 the name of the Society was changed to First National Building Society. Over a period of years First National grew both organically, through expansion of its branch network, and by the acquisition of the business of five small building societies.

In 1994 First National acquired Mortgage Trust Limited, a UK centralised mortgage lending business. In 1995 a deposit taking subsidiary commenced business in Guernsey, Channel Islands. The Group's UK operations were expanded in 1996 through the acquisition of The Mortgage Corporation. A retail deposit taking operation was established in England in 1996 to obtain sterling deposits to fund the Group's growing mortgage business in the UK.

At the 1998 Annual General Meeting the members voted to convert to a public limited company and to list the Company shares on the Irish and London Stock Exchange. Conversion occurred on 7th September 1998, the shares were listed on 6th October 1998 and simultaneously the company raised 132 million in new capital from existing members and from the institutional markets.

Between September 2000 and December 2002 First Active sold its investments in First Active Financial in the UK to Britannic Assurance plc.

Since the early '00s, it has been using an advertising campaign which involves playing on colloquial phrases and putting them right. Examples include the First Active representative telling "Most people" that there's no need to keep switching mortage companies, finding "whoever said that you need to keep switching mortgages in order to get the best deal", and finding where it is written that it takes ages to get a decision on your mortgage. This campaign is vastly popular with some among the British internet community for its dry, pedantic wit.

On 5 January 2004 First Active became a wholly owned member of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and now offers its services in Great Britain as well as the Republic of Ireland.