First Active was an Irish

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

, and former

building society A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization. Building societies offer banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending. Building societies exist in the United Kingd ...

which was merged into

Ulster Bank Ulster Bank ( ga, Banc Uladh) is a large retail bank, and one of the traditional Big Four (banking)#Ireland, Big Four Irish clearing banks. The Ulster Bank Group is subdivided into two separate legal entities: NatWest, National Westminster Ban ...

in late 2009, ceasing trading in February 2010. It traditionally offered a range of

mortgages A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

(including subprime mortgages),

savings Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an ...

, investment, pension and

life assurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death ...

products, but from 2007 onwards, also offered credit cards, ATM accounts and current accounts as well as online banking and Laser/Maestro debit cards.

History

The organisation was founded as the Workingman's Benefit Building Society in 1861, and it was legally incorporated in 1875. https://www.natwestgroup.com/heritage/companies/first-active-plc.html Renamed First National Building Society in 1960, it became the first building society in Ireland to open a branch network, and during the 1970s and 1980s several other smaller building societies merged their business into that of First National. From the 1990s, it used an advertising campaign which involved contradicting received knowledge about finance. Examples included a representative telling "Most people" that there's no need to keep switching mortgage 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. The society

demutualised Demutualization is the process by which a customer-owned mutual organization (''mutual'') or co-operative changes legal form to a joint stock company. It is sometimes called stocking or privatization. As part of the demutualization process, memb ...

in 1998 and was listed on the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

and

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

s as a under the new name of First Active plc. It was acquired by

Royal Bank of Scotland Group NatWest Group plc is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group operates a wide variety of banking brands offering personal and business banking, private banking, investment banking, insurance and ...

in 2004. In 2004,

Tesco Bank Tesco Bank is a British retail bank which was formed in July 1997 (as Tesco ''Personal Finance''), and which has been wholly owned by Tesco plc since 2008. The bank was formed as part of a 50:50 joint venture between The Royal Bank of Scotland a ...

also began offering products provided by First Active.RBS Announces Proposed Future Ring-Fenced Legal Entity Structure and Investment in Customer Brands
London Stock Exchange, RNS No. 2659L, 30 September 2016 On 26 January 2009, it was announced that First Active would cease to operate as a separate entity and its operations would be merged with those of Ulster Bank, with the loss of 750 jobs (550 in the Republic of Ireland and 200 in Northern Ireland). From September 2009, it ceased offering any new products to customers in preparation for the merger.

References

External links

Ulster Bank (Republic of Ireland) company website

www.firstactive.ie
{{Authority control Defunct banks of Ireland Financial services in the Republic of Ireland NatWest Group Banks established in 1861 Banks disestablished in 2010 1861 establishments in Ireland 2010 disestablishments in Ireland