The nation's financial regulator may decide later this week to discipline Chang Po-shin (張伯欣), chairman of Chang Hwa Commercial Bank Ltd (彰化銀行), after prosecutors late on Tuesday named him as a defendant in a case of alleged illegal share trading.
Susan Chang (
The purpose of the investigation was to verify whether Chang had breached the standards of integrity and honesty that the regulator demands of heads of financial institutions, Chang said in a telephone interview yesterday.
"We do not exclude the possibility of making a decision on how to deal with chairman Chang this week, at earliest," she said.
Chang said the commission had demanded the bank make an explanation after prosecutors on Tuesday night named Chang, along with two other high-ranking executives, as defendants in an alleged insider-trading case involving the sale of Taiwan Development Corp (TDC,
The other two officials are the lender's president, Chen Chen-jau (
Chang Hwa yesterday confirmed the defendant status of the three executives, while insisting that all of the activities of the bank and its officials had complied with the law.
"All three officials are back at work today after being subpoenaed by the prosecutors' office to give further information last [Tuesday] night," Chang Hwa's spokesman Miles Chang (張明文) said.
"The incident has no impact on the bank's finances and business," he added.
The three executives have been reporting to the commission in person and in writing since they were questioned two weeks ago, he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) has accused Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘), President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) son-in-law, of buying 20 million TDC shares under the name of his mother, Chien Shui-mien (簡水綿), after learning the stock was likely to rise.
Chang Hwa said its chairman and president met with Chao prior to selling 12.45 million shares of Taiwan Development on July 25 last year.
The lender said Chao did not declare his intention to buy those shares. While Chien was one of the potential buyers, the lender said it was not aware that she was Chao's mother at that time, according to Chang.
"We decided to proceed with the disposal plan even after Taiwan Development disposed of its debt-ridden trust business and obtained a NT$16.5 billion syndicated loan because we were not optimistic about the company's outlook," Chang said.
"We did not profit anyone through the share sale, which was purely an investment call," he said.
On Tuesday, prosecutors searched the offices of the three executives at Chang Hwa's Taipei headquarters, and summoned them in capacity of defendants, instead of witnesses.
Taiwan Development
In related news, the Ministry of Finance last night said it would remove TDC chairman Su Teh-jien (蘇德建) if prosecutors release him on bail, or detained or indict him.
TDC president Chung Chih-wen (鍾智文) will also be relieved of his presidency if Su goes, Vice Minister of Finance Chen Shu (陳樹) said.
Su was being questioned by prosecutors yesterday and was not available to verify some doubtful points, he said.
The ministry will announce its decision and the results of its investigation into Su's alleged involvement in insider trading of TDC shares at 11am today.
Meanwhile, Chen said that Chang Hwa's corporate governance was flawed.
The bank's board of directors should be more transparent about their decision-making process regarding the disposal of Taiwan Development shares, Chen said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”