SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) yesterday dismissed rumors that its latest regulatory dispute has delayed plans to sell off its US-based banking subsidiary, potentially leading to NT$10 billion (US$330.8 million) in penalties for failing to meet contract obligations with a buyer.
The US Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on Tuesday blocked SinoPac Financial’s proposal to sell Far East National Bank, to NASDAQ-listed Cathay General Bancorp in a US$340 million deal, which the companies announced in July last year.
At an annual general meeting in Taipei, SinoPac Financial chairman Ho Shou-chuan (何壽川) lashed out at shareholders who questioned the decision, and said that the company is working with the commission to resubmit its application, in addition to continuing negotiations with the US buyer.
Photo: CNA
After reviewing the application for three quarters, the FSC halted the sale due to inadequate filings.
The commission said that SinoPac Financial had failed to provide detailed information on the sale price, as well as its motivation to offload its US-based subsidiary.
The commission also said that it is unable to verify whether the agreement between the two sides included stipulations on penalties in the event that the sale is not completed before the contract’s expiration on July 8.
The setback follows a string of violations at the conglomerate’s leasing, securities brokerage and banking subsidiaries in Taiwan and abroad.
Shareholders vented their dissatisfaction with the company’s lapses in governance, auditing and internal control measures.
Shareholders also questioned whether there was dereliction of duty by the company’s auditing departments, and whether its chairman and board members should be held responsible for the violations.
One shareholder even alleged that Ho had circumvented the company’s auditing process and instructed that certain loans be approved, leading to regulatory penalties.
Ho said that the company has set its sights on leading its domestic peers in governance and compliance by utilizing regulatory technology, known as “regtech,” solutions that digitize manual reporting and compliance processes to prevent future lapses.
The company saw its net income last year drop 23.72 percent year-on-year to NT$8.28 billion, with Ho attributing the outcome to inclement market conditions left by successive central bank interest rate cuts.
Meanwhile, a board of directors election held yesterday had little effect on the company’s board, as Ho and son Felix Ho (何奕達) took the first and second positions in ballots.
Sharesholders approved plans to distribute a dividend of NT$0.694 per share, consisting of a cash dividend of NT$0.3444 and a 3.5 percent stock dividend.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained