The Fair Trade Commission is investigating local banks and bills finance companies for potential manipulation of a domestic benchmark for short-term notes.
The probe began late last year, commission vice chairman Chiu Yung-ho (邱永和) said yesterday by telephone.
The commission distributed questions to rate contributors at the end of last month, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
Chiu declined to comment on specifics of the case.
Taiwanese regulators are the latest to join global authorities looking into allegations that traders manipulated benchmark interest rates.
More than US$9 billion in fines have been levied, including a US$2.5 billion penalty for Deutsche Bank AG last month.
A spokesman for the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (台灣集中保管結算所), which helps compile the rate, was not immediately available for comment.
Taiwan’s short-term notes quoted rate index TAIBIR is used as a benchmark rate for pricing loans and derivatives, along with another benchmark, the TAIBOR. The TAIBIR is based on bid-ask prices of commercial paper and other short-term notes.
Banks and bills finance companies began migrating to the two benchmarks from a Thomson Reuters Corp-calculated benchmark, known as the “6165” locally, late last year, after they were asked by the company to assume full legal responsibility for their pricing submissions. The Financial Supervisory Commission and central bank said in November last year they were aiding the transition.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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