In 2024, the impact of international situations such as the trade and technology war between the U.S. and China as well as the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine conflicts led to soaring cost of living. However, a stable labor market also supported private consumption. Additionally, the demand for AI and cloud applications flourished, driving growth momentum for related products. As a result, the global economy showed a high level of resiliency, and continued to recover mildly. The FFHC Group cautiously responded to the impact of economic fluctuations, and relied on a stable business strategy to increase our core advantages and operational magnitude. We also took the risk-to-reward ratio into consideration, expanded our business synergy, and engaged in negotiations with our investment and financing targets actively, urging them to make the transition to low carbon emissions and sustainable development. Thanks to concerted efforts, the Group set profit records again. Our consolidated net income amounted to NT$72.119 billion, and our net income after taxes reached NT$25.359 billion, up 12.9% from the previous year. Our total assets increased to NT$4.70 trillion. Our consolidated after-tax ROE and ROA reached 9.82% and 0.56%, respectively. Our after-tax EPS was NT$1.81.

In light of the importance of sustainable development to business operation. FFHC established the "CSR Committee" in 2011, which was renamed "ESG Committee" in 2022. In keeping with the business management philosophy of "Building Ethical Governance for a Sustainable Future," it internalized environment, social and governance (referred to as ESG hereafter) as its corporate culture. The ESG Committee has six trans-company groups working under it, namely, "Corporate Governance", "Responsible Finance", "Sustainable Financial Products and Services", "Employee Care", "Environmental Sustainability", and "Community Engagement". ESG performance indicators were incorporated into the annual performance evaluation of our subsidiaries. The Group also elevates the ESG Committee as a functional committee under the Board of Directors, with three independent directors serving as members. A Chief Sustainability Officer has been installed to continue to drive our progress towards sustainable development.

To respond to the risks climate change poses to operations of the financial industry, FFHC verified and identified the risks and opportunities associated with climate change for the Group's operations based on the "Climate-Related Financial Disclosures Recommendations" published by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), in addition to formulating mitigating measures as well as short-, mid-, and long-term goals. The Group followed up on KPI results, conducted scenario analysis on climate risk cases, quantized the resulting financial impact, and published TCFD reports between 2021 and 2024. For four straight years, the Group received a "Level-5+" audit statement-the highest grade-from the British Standards Institution (BSI), and presented a report pertaining to the results of climate change risk assessment, mitigating measures, and status of implementation to the Audit Committee and Board of Directors. The Group has incorporated climate risk management into its business operation flows through controlling and managing related risk indicators. It also incessantly adjusts its business strategies to continue to enhance climate governance. Moreover, as part of the efforts to accommodate the introduction of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, the Group's sustainability and financial reports & information have been integrated, so that information relating to S1 and S2 can be disclosed in our 2026 annual report.

As a member of the Financial Supervisory Commission's Coalition of Movers and Shakers on Sustainable Finance, FFHC strives to introduce Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials' (PCAF) financial carbon inventories and SBTi's (Science Based Target initiative) carbon reduction pathways. First Financial Holding and its subsidiaries have completed greenhouse gas inventories of all business locations in Taiwan and abroad, and have also complied with the Science Based Targets (SBT) for carbon reduction since 2023. Under the scenario of controlling warming to under 1.5°C, the Group has set a target that its total Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions must be reduced by 4.85% annually from the baseline year (2022). It has also joined the PCAF and SBTi. PCAF's suggested methodology has been adopted to verify the financial carbon emissions of Scope 3 investment and financing cases, and short-, mid-, and long-term carbon reduction targets for major investment & financing business have been set based on the inventory results. These targets were officially reviewed and approved by the SBTi in June 2024, and have been executed accordingly. The Group also established a decarbonization mechanism for its investment/financing operations. Targeting corporate financing relating to coal mining, project financing relating to building coal-fired power plants (excluding those qualified for the transition to carbon reduction), as well as corporate financing cases where the share of revenues from atypical oil and gas exceeds a certain threshold, the Bank pledged not to undertake any such new cases or approve additional funds for existing loans. Related positions are expected to return to zero by 2030. We also publicly pledged not to invest in "high carbon-producing corporations with no transition plans", "companies whose coal operations account for more than 25% of revenue," and "companies whose atypical oil and gas operations account for more than 10% of revenue". In 2024, the Bank's existing positions on such companies were completely eliminated.

In addition, the Group continues to push forward multiple green financing projects to support industries in their transition to low carbon emissions. As of the end of 2024, approved domestic and foreign green financing projects had reached NT$247.65 billion cumulatively. In particular, the Group has granted loans to a cumulative total of 478 clients for the "Sustainability Linked Loan Program", in which companies whose ESG performance indicators have improved are prioritized. A cumulative total of NT$696.4 billion has been approved. We also provided funds needed for programs to improve the environmental benefits of pollution control, green transportation, green buildings/green factories, and energy and resource conservation. We also issued financial bonds focusing on sustainable development, and rolled out a time deposit program for sustainable development. The funds are used to help companies develop renewable energy programs such as solar and wind generation installations, as well as credit cases for social housing. In doing so, we hope to guide companies, investors and deposit account customers to invest in clean energy industries and march towards the 2050 net-zero emissions goal. On the other hand, First Financial Management Consulting has successfully raised and managed three green energy funds totaling NT$780 million. Meanwhile, First Venture Capital also invested NT$333 million in building a solar power plant with a capacity of approximately 47.6 MW. When the aforementioned project is completed, it is expected to reduce 47,600 metric tons of CO₂e every year, comparable to the annual carbon absorption by around 123 Da'an Forest Parks. FFHC also led by example by establishing a "Green Building Label Certification Program" team in 2010. As of the end of 2024, we had revamped 35 existing buildings, which have all received the Green Building Labels from the Ministry of the Interior (including Diamond class for 29 buildings, Gold class for one building, Silver class for one building, Bronze class for one building, and Certified for three buildings). Two newly constructed buildings have obtained the Gold-class Green Building Label. Our London branch office building has also obtained the "PASS" green building rating from the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in the UK. In 2024, all of these green buildings contributed to a combined annual reduction of 2,963 metric tons of CO₂e.

In response to the government's goal of building environment-friendly and low-carbon cities, FFHC-as of 2024-had constructed 25 solar-powered branches, contributing to an annual reduction of 148.76 metric tons of CO₂e. Since 2015, we have purchased green electricity, carbon credits and renewable energy certificates totaling 14.867 million kWh. For 2025, we have also set a target of generating and using 250 MWh of renewable energy, as we continue to increase the share of renewable energy that we use. We installed "green roofs featuring solar power generation, rainwater harvesting and ecological hydroponic functions" on our Wanhua, Huashan, and Chang'an branch buildings, which help create zero carbon farms that integrate solar power generation, rainwater harvesting, and an aquaponics system. In particular, our Wanhua Branch has been certified by the Environmental Protection Administration as an "Environmental Education Facility." It is the only certified environmental education facility and field in the financial industry, and has been chosen as a designated environmental education facility for visitation by the Control Yuan's Committee on Social Welfare and Environment Hygiene Affairs as well as the Ministry of Environment. The branch has rolled out multiple environmental education courses incorporating core financial competencies. In 2024, we held 41 environmental education sessions for enterprises, government agencies, and schools, with a total of 1,321 people participating. We also promote the renewal and reconstruction of dangerous and old buildings by offering preferential loans aimed at "accelerating the reconstruction of dangerous and old urban buildings". As of the end of 2024, we had undertaken a cumulative total of 262 urban renewal cases, with the total approved amount reaching NT$233.082 billion. In particular, 164 of these projects have been awarded Silver-class Green Building Label certification or above, and 4,903 households have benefited as a result.

To respond to the United Nations' sustainable development goals for providing financial services to vulnerable demographic groups and remote areas, FFHC actively promotes inclusive finance and has expanded financing services for domestic small and medium enterprises. As of the end of 2024 outstanding loans to SMEs had reached NT$960.57 billion, and our market share has topped all domestic banks for 15 consecutive years. We also continue to support loans for "small and micro enterprises", "Loans for Young Entrepreneurs and Start-ups", "Loans for Micro Entrepreneurs", and "Micro Loans for Female Entrepreneurs", and have undertaken a total of 13,285 such accounts. Our online loan application platform "Micro Enterprise e-Services" enables small and micro enterprises to quickly obtain start-up loans and operating capital. 5,621 applications were accepted in total in 2024. Furthermore, to provide care to our aging society, we offered the "e-First Smart Money Management" retirement financial management service. On top of that, the cumulative trust assets of elderly customers and persons with disabilities had reached NT$33.454 billion by 2024. We also undertook 215 cases of the "Comfort Loan" reverse mortgage loans, with an approved amount totaling around NT$1.595 billion.

In terms of financial innovation, we continued to promote the "Consumer Carbon Footprint Inquiry" service, which has set a precedent among state-owned banks. With this service, consumers can inquire about the carbon emissions of the transactions made with their credit cards each month via the iLeo app. We also optimized the "ESG Sustainable Application Map Inquiry Tool", providing simulations on various kinds of climate change information, so that the user can understand disaster risks and potential as well as information about environmentally sensitive areas, which is conducive to ESG policy-making and risk management. In addition, as of the end of 2024, First Commercial Bank's "iLEO Digital Account" had accumulated more than 1.91 million users, making it the fourth largest digital account in Taiwan. The "iLEO App" has also been downloaded 1.49 million times cumulatively, with an annual growth rate of 35.5%. Moreover, as the banking-as-a-platform (BaaP) model becomes increasingly mature, we decided to launch the "First Good Life" on the iLEO App (including dedicated everyday life scenarios, such as travel, house rental, green consumption, and charity, etc). The service went online in Nov. 2023, and had logged more than 200,000 visits cumulatively as of the end of 2024.

FFHC has been actively building a gender-equal and gender-friendly work system and workplace environment. The share of our female employees and the average compensation of female executives have outpaced those of their male counterparts. Furthermore, as part of our efforts to create a workplace environment conducive to mothers' health, we provide maternity (prenatal checkup) leave and paternity (prenatal checkup) leave that exceed the minimum benchmark set by labor laws, in addition to increasing employee childbirth subsidies to NT$250,000 for the third childbirth. Female employees who undergo intrusive artificial insemination procedures are eligible for two days of paid leave, as we strive to realize our management vision of a "happy workplace". For two straight years, we have been awarded the "OHS SDGs" by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Ministry of Labor, in addition to being named as one of the "Best Companies to Work for In Asia" by the human resource magazine HR Asia.

FFHC has combined group resources and its employees to actively engage in public welfare events. In 2024, it invested more than NT$130 million to subsidize disadvantaged schoolchildren and groups, fund the cultivation of talented athletes, and support food banks and exhibition/performance platforms for the art and cultural communities. We rolled out diverse inclusive finance products targeting the elderly, youths, women, disadvantaged demographics and SMEs, and issued various green and charity credit cards, including the World Card, Leezen Co-branded Credit Card, Living Green Card, YiLan Affinity Card, and Taoyuan Affinity Card. A fixed percentage of the amount of transactions made with these credit cards would be donated to benefit environmental conservation and social welfare events, as part of our efforts to encourage our credit card holders to engage in sustainable consumption. We have thereby donated NT$813 million cumulatively. Due to our stellar ESG efforts and performance, we have also amassed many important domestic and foreign ESG awards, including continued inclusion as a constituent stock of the world's top 3 ESG indexes - DJSI, FTSE and MSCI. We were also rated as a "top 5% listed company" in the Corporate Governance Evaluation of the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation for the tenth time. We were an awardee at the National Council for Sustainable Development's "2024 National Sustainable Development Awards (enterprises category)". We were also honored at the Ministry of Environment's Sixth "National Enterprise Environmental Protection Award", becoming the only Taiwanese enterprise to have been awarded in six straight years. Aside from being ranked in the top 25% of all banks in the "Second Sustainable Finance Evaluation" by the Financial Supervisory Commission, First Commercial Bank was also "ranked in the top 25% for fair customer treatment" for three straight years by the Financial Supervisory Commission. First Securities was also ranked in the top 25% among securities firms in the FSC's "Second Sustainable Finance Evaluation", while First Life Insurance, for two years in a row, was also "ranked in the top 26%-50% for fair customer treatment", as the Group continues to deepen its culture for fair customer treatment and integrity.

Looking ahead to 2025, the Group will stay true to its development goals of steady management and innovative planning, devote itself to adjusting the Group's profit structure, enhance digital developments, stay on top of the financial market pulse, and implement information, operation and channel integrations between our subsidiaries. We will leverage the Group's strength to create integrated value, and integrate our core operations into ESG implementations. We will seek to grasp business opportunities associated with green finance, and partner with our supply chains, customers and shareholders to accelerate the transition to sustainability, in an effort to create a sustainable, mutually prosperous and new financial ecosphere.