First Commercial forecasts growth By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter State-run First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) forecast that its loan growth would reach 7 to 8 percent this year, following an 8 percent increase to NT$1.91 trillion (US$67.5 billion) last year, bank vice president Tsai Su-hwei (蔡淑慧) said. Benefiting from a low interest rate environment, corporate loan growth at the banking arm of First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) is forecast to reach 8 to 9 percent this year, along with 4 to 5 percent growth in mortgage loans, Tsai said at an online earnings conference on Thursday. In addition, the company’s net fee income is predicted to grow 15 percent this year on the back of steady growth in the economy, compared with a decline of 6.8 percent to NT$7.33 billion last year, she said.