The nation’s financial regulator is asking Standard Chartered Plc and three domestic lenders to provide information on investment products created by Irvine, California-based Private Equity Management Group Inc (PEMGroup).
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) is requesting help from Standard Chartered, Hua Nan Commercial Bank Ltd (華南銀行), Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) and Taichung Commercial Bank Co (台中商銀) in determining the amount of securities tied to PEMGroup that have been sold, Chang Ming-daw (張明道), head of the regulator’s banking bureau, said by telephone yesterday.
“We are investigating the matter and asking the four banks to give us more details on the sale of the products in Taiwan,” Chang said.
PEMGroup founder Danny Pang (彭日成) stepped down as the company’s chairman and chief executive officer pending the results of an internal investigation of policies and procedures, the company said yesterday in a statement.
PEMGroup directors formed a committee and hired the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP to “assist in the investigation,” the release said.
Robert Anderson, PEMGroup’s former chief operating officer, is now serving as interim chairman, while chief financial officer Wilbur Quon has voluntarily stepped aside pending the outcome of the internal inquiry, the statement said.
“PEMG takes very seriously the trust its clients have placed in it and as such, we intend to fully investigate allegations and issues raised,” Anderson said in the statement.
A Wall Street Journal article on Wednesday cited an unidentified former PEMGroup president as saying that Pang, 42, told him that part of the company relied on a Ponzi scheme. Pang’s academic credentials and claims that he worked at Morgan Stanley may be fabricated, the Journal said.
It has been reported that PEMGroup raised most of its funds in Taiwan, where Pang was born. The California-based firm invests in US assets such as company debt, time-share properties and life-insurance policies bought at discount.
A person who answered the phone at PEMGroup’s Shanghai office and declined to give his name denied the existence of a Ponzi scheme.
Hua Nan bank, a unit of Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co (華南金控), said in a statement on its Web site on Thursday that the principal and interest on products it sold on behalf of PEMGroup were guaranteed by “large international financial institutions.”
The bank didn’t name what these institutions were.
“We are aware and are looking into this matter,” Standard Chartered Bank Taiwan Ltd said in an e-mailed statement on Friday. “We are cooperating with the FSC.”
Robert Lin (林安峰), vice president and spokesman of Taichung Commercial Bank, whose PEMGroup investments were backed by German insurer Talanx AG, wasn’t available for comment.
Ted Liao (廖達德), executive vice president of Bank SinoPac, a unit of SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控), didn’t return calls for comment.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS