State-run Chang Hwa Bank (
It posted bad debts amounting to NT$50.8 billion (US$1.5 billion), as 185 account holders -- each with a debt of over NT$100 million -- defaulted.
FSC request
As required by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), 42 local banks and 33 foreign lenders had to make public on their Web sites by yesterday the names of their major defaulters with loans exceeding NT$100 million as registered at the end of December.
The FSC did not provide the total amount of bad loans as the financial institutions were still verifying the figures, deputy director general of the FSC's Banking Bureau Jong Huey-jen (鍾慧貞) said.
The banks identified bad debt account holders with loans incurred as of June last year for the first time in mid-March.
At that time, FSC data showed that the total amount of bad debts was NT$370 billion.
No more than 1,500 accounts shared by the 75 local and foreign lenders were shown to be in default.
Worst-hit
The banks' second release on Sunday and yesterday showed that state-controlled lenders were among the worst hit during the loans crisis.
Mega International Commercial Bank (
Mega International's figures were a combination of its predecessors, China International Commercial Bank (
It was followed by the nation's largest lender, the Bank of Taiwan (
The most prominent defaulters included An Feng Steel (安鋒鋼鐵) and Feng An Metal Co (峰安金屬), businesses run by former Control Yuan member Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄).
Former Tuntex Group (東帝士集團) chairman Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪), Chinese Automobile Co (國產汽車), Ever Fortune Industrial Co (長億實業) and Yue-Mei International Development Corp (月眉國際開發) were also among the debtors.
Questions
Despite the banks' efforts to identify indebted customers, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao (
FSC Chairman Hu Sheng-cheng (
Considering the massive amount of joint debts, the success rate of debt collection would be greatly boosted if reward incentives were provided, he told lawmakers.
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