Seeing the need to revitalize and help build the country's economy shortly after the second world war, Go Kim Pah established Equitable Banking Corporation in 1950. Its first headquarters rose in Binondo, Manila where trade and business were starting to flourish. Equitable Bank was the first commercial bank licensed by the newly created Central Bank of the Philippines.The bank grew steadily, establishing its first branch in Divisoria, and the second soon after in Cebu. In 1963, it became the first Filipino bank to establish a foreign branch in the Crown Colony (Honqkonq).