The Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center yesterday said that it has collected NT$1.08 billion (US$33.82 million) in compensation on behalf of investors last year, marking a record high in the organization’s 14-year history.
“It was an eventful year and while not a desired outcome, we expect the trend to continue this year and in the future,” center chairman Chiu Chin-ting (邱欽廷) told reporters at a news conference in Taipei.
Chiu said that last year was defined by a number of high-profile cases, including a failed tender offer by local video game developer XPEC Entertainment Inc (樂陞科技); TransAsia Airways Corp’s (復興航空) sudden dissolution; and a computer glitch that suspended trading of Largan Precision Co (大立光) shares.
The bulk of the compensation was from a NT$500 million payment by CTBC Bank Co (中國信託銀行) and CTBC Securities (中國信託證券), which were involved in the XPEC case.
The payment was the result of mediation between the center and the two financial companies, Chiu said.
Although CTBC Financial (中信金控) continued to deny all wrongdoing and said that the payments were provided in the interest of fulfilling the company’s moral obligations, two of its subsidiaries were penalized by the Financial Supervisory Commission.
“Compensation notices were sent out investors last month and should provide some relief to those affected ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday,” Chiu added.
The center had seven court victories on behalf of investors last year and those rulings established precedents that would help in future cases, Chiu said.
The rulings should deter businesses from wrongdoing and improve corporate governance, Chiu said, adding that since its founding, the center has collected about NT$4.1 billion in compensation on behalf of investors.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”