Minister wants punishments to become harsher

The government yesterday proposed a set of tough new penalties for white-collar criminals whose wrongfully acquired gains reach over NT$100 million. Penalties include a minimum seven-year jail term or fines of up to NT$500 million.

"The aim is to make these criminals, if convicted, pay far greater than their returns from the criminal acts," said Gary Tseng (曾國烈), director general of the Ministry of Finance's Bureau of Monetary Affairs, at a year-end press conference yesterday.

The bureau's proposal, submitted to the legislature for review in early January, suggests offenders with a jail term of between one to seven years may also face fines of up to NT$20 million while those with a jail term over seven years will pay fines between NT$25 million and NT$500 million, the statement said.

Tseng vowed to combat white-collar crime, which he said the nation should make a top priority in its financial reforms.

To help domestic banks return to financial health, Tseng said that the bureau has already instructed several poorly performing banks with high non-performing loans (NPLs) to soon improve their business practices . If banks fail to meet the bureau's NPL targets, restrictions may be put on their plans to open new branches, conduct new business transactions, file re-investment applications or grant loans, the statement said.

To increase economy of scale, the government is encouraging credit units to merge. Among eight recently consolidated commercial banks, seven are still regional institutions with limited business scopes. The exception is Macoto Bank (誠泰銀行), which runs business on a national scale.

The Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) intends to securitize its financial assets, with government approval for the plan expected by the end of this month, Tseng said. This would be the first domestic bank to make such a move.

Land Bank's proposed financial assets for securitization include 40 corporate loans, worth at least NT$3 billion, and other various securities.