The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has summoned former Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) chairman Mckinney Tsai (蔡友才) for questioning on Sunday, amid allegations that Mega International Commercial Bank’s (兆豐銀行) New York branch might have been involved in money laundering.
FSC Chairman Ding Kung-wha (丁克華) yesterday said that Tsai, who no longer works in the financial sector, could clarify claims that the New York branch was involved in money laundering.
“Tsai has nothing to worry about, as the FSC is not a judicial body and is focused on learning the truth about the case,” Ding said, while speaking at a cooperative education event, which promises to provide 7,000 internship positions at financial firms.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
Until Mega Bank resolves the problems associated with the money-laundering allegations, it will be barred from opening any new branches overseas, Ding said.
The commission, which plans to send a delegation to New York and Panama next week to examine Mega Bank’s operations there, yesterday said it respects a decision by the Panamanian government to launch an investigation into the bank, as the Central American country has jurisdiction over banks operating within its territory.
The decision by the Superintendency of Banks of Panama (SBP) to investigate Mega Bank’s branch in Panama came after the New York Department of Financial Services accused Panama of serving as a high-risk jurisdiction for money laundering.
By conducting an investigation into the Mega Bank matter, the SBP is seeking to disprove the department’s allegations and clear Panama’s reputation, FSC Vice Chairman Kuei Hsien-nung (桂先農) said.
Separately, Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) yesterday announced that its board of directors had unanimously voted to appoint Catherine Lee (李紀珠) to fill the long-vacant position of president.
Lee is the chairperson of state-run Taiwan Financial Holdings (台灣金控). Her term is to conclude at the end of this month.
Having served as a government official as well as in the banking, securities and insurance sectors, Lee will be tasked with developing new horizons in digital finance, as well as optimizing current operations, Shin Kong said in a statement.
Additional reporting by CNA
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be