 Sign outside a typical SC First Bank branch. Standard Chartered First Bank Korea Limited, SC First Bank (Eng.)/SC제일은행 (Kor.), formerly known as Korea First Bank or 제일은행, is one of the largest commercial banks in Korea. It was established in 1929 during the Japanese occupation, and has a total of 4,201 employees, with 406 branches and its headquarters in downtown Seoul.
Since the acquisition and name change of the bank, foreign cards that once only worked with such machines as Nice now work with SC First Bank ATMs as well, including non-credit cards with the PLUS symbol.
- 1929 - Founded as Chosun Savings Bank.
- 1950 - Name changed to Korea Savings Bank.
- 1958 - Name changed to Korea First Bank.
- 2005 - Name changed to "Standard Chartered First Bank Korea Limited" (Trade name:SC First Bank). This was a result of Standard Chartered Bank completing a 100% acquisition of the bank.
In December 1999, the government sold 51% of Korea First Bank to Newbridge Capital, a U.S. private equity firm in a precedent-setting transaction. Newbridge Capital invested 500 billion won into Korea First Bank in January 2000, and appointed a new management team headed by CEO Wilfred Horie.
In April 2005, the Korean government and Newbridge Capital finalized the sale of their interests in Korea First Bank to Standard Chartered Bank, a U.K. financial institution having a banking presence in 56 countries around the world. Korea First Bank was rebranded Standard Chartered First Bank Korea Limited (trade name: SC First Bank (Eng.)/SC제일은행 (Kor.)) and is operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank. The bank's CEO is John Filmeridis.
The bank's focus is significant business growth by combining SC First Bank's nationwide platform with Standard Chartered Bank's broad range of wholesale and consumer banking products and by using Standard Chartered Bank's international network to help Korean companies.
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