The central bank and the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday rejected allegations that central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) had meddled in the investigation into Mega International Commercial Bank’s (兆豐銀行) contravention of US money laundering regulations.
After Mega Bank was fined by the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS), commission Vice Chairman Kuei Hsien-nung (桂先農) on Aug. 4 asked the central bank to assist with communications with the department, the commission and central bank said in separate statements.
Upon learning that state-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) was facing a massive fine, Perng coordinated a meeting between New York state officials and directors from the central bank’s and the commission’s New York offices the following business day, the statements said.
STATEMENTS
“The Financial Supervisory Commission and central bank’s directors asked the DFS to allot adequate time for Mega International Commercial Bank to run through the processes required before its consent order may be signed, as the bank is a subsidiary of a publicly traded company,” the commission said in its statement.
Perng had also communicated with the US Federal Reserve on behalf of Mega Bank, but he did not intervene in the subsequent personnel reshuffle at the holding company, the central bank said.
The two statements came after media personality Clara Chou (周玉蔻) said Perng had protected Mega Financial chairman Shiu Kuang-si (徐光曦), who is his brother-in-law.
Perng’s and Hsu’s wives are sisters, and this connection motivated Perng to act on behalf of Hsu, she said.
Chou also questioned whether it was appropriate for Hsu to be involved in the investigation, given that the violations occurred while he was president of Mega Financial.
TASK FORCE
In other developments, the commission said the task force investigating Mega Financial yesterday met for a second time.
The task force has questioned 28 persons of interest and their accounts are to be checked against those given by Mega Financial managers, the commission said.
Officials from the commission’s Financial Examination Bureau are now in Panama to probe Mega Bank’s two branches in that nation, the commission said.
That probe is looking into alleged suspicious activities, including a large number of closed accounts, as well as whether the bank has remedied citations from previous examinations, the bureau said.
The probe in Panama is expected to be completed in the middle of this month, and officials would move on to investigate the bank’s New York branch, the commission said.
The commission said its report on efforts to counter money laundering by domestic banks would be completed before the end of next month.
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV yesterday said that it has reached an agreement to acquire a subsidiary brewery of Taiwan’s Sanyo Whisbih Group (三洋維士比集團). Heineken is to assume majority ownership and management rights of the Long Chuan Zuan Co (龍泉鑽興業) brewery in Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔), the Dutch company said. It would become the first multinational brewing company to operate brewery in Taiwan once the acquisition is completed. The deal has been approved by the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission, but details of the financial transaction cannot be disclosed at this time, as terms of the settlement have not been completed,
Had Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck hopped on an electric scooter rather than a Vespa in the classic film Roman Holiday, their spin around the Eternal City might have ended in tears. The number of crashes and near-misses involving the two-wheelers has prompted Rome authorities to impose some order on a booming rental market that began two years ago. The havoc came to a head earlier this month when two US tourists attempted a night-time drive down the Spanish Steps, causing more than 25,000 euros (US$26,392) worth of damage to the 18th-century monument. Caught on security footage, the couple in their late 20s
LOOK WHO OWES: China’s exposure to Taiwanese banks was the second-largest, with Luxembourg third, followed by Hong Kong and Japan, the central bank said The US remained the largest debtor country to Taiwan’s banking sector for a 27th consecutive quarter in the first quarter of this year, with its exposure rising 8.3 percent from a quarter earlier on the back of an increase in US bonds, the central bank said on Friday. Data compiled by the central bank showed that outstanding international claims by Taiwanese banks on a direct risk basis to the US stood at US$125.38 billion as of the end of March. Department of Financial Inspection deputy head Pan Ya-hui (潘雅慧) said that the US Federal Reserve’s launch of a rate hike cycle in
GREEN CITY: The company is set to invest US$8 billion to make electric vehicles and batteries for a new city that would rely entirely on renewable energy sources Indonesia said that Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is considering investing in the country’s new capital city, a move that would bolster the US$34 billion construction project. Hon Hai, which is known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), is looking at setting up an electric bus system and an Internet of Things network at Nusantara, as Indonesia’s new capital is to be called, Indonesian Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia said in a statement yesterday. Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Saturday to discuss the company’s plan to invest US$8 billion to build a manufacturing plant
RSS