The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said that it was not aware of the severity of a breach of money-laundering rules by Mega International Commercial Bank’s (兆豐銀行) New York branch, despite a meeting with US financial regulatory officials last year.
The commission said that Banking Bureau officials on Oct. 6 last year met with four US Federal Reserve officials, with the discussion limited to “soft topics,” such as regulatory trends and development prospects of the global financial sector.
However, the commission’s investigation of Mega Bank’s compliance failures at its New York branch revealed that the state-run lender had met with the US officials a day earlier.
On Oct. 5 last year, US officials told Mega Bank that it would likely be subject to impending enforcement action, as its compliance was found to be inadequate in prior examinations.
US officials also told the bank that it should make immediate improvements by coordinating with its Taipei headquarters.
Because the severity of the situation was not relayed to the commission or Mega Bank’s board of directors, the commission said it fined the bank NT$10 million (US$315,527) on Wednesday, as its poor governance and management had led to a fine of US$180 million by US regulators last month.
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