SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) yesterday said that it would resolve a dispute with a former executive, as regulators bolster whistle-blower protection rules.
The company has not ruled out resolving the dispute with former SinoPac Securities Ltd (永豐金證券) chief financial officer Melody Wang (王幗英), SinoPac Financial president Chen Chia-hsien (陳嘉賢) told reporters at an earnings conference in Taipei.
The company would consider dropping legal action against Wang and efforts to seek reparation if she would agree to certain conditions, Chen said, declining to comment further on the ongoing court case.
Wang — who is believed to be the key whistle-blower against the company — earlier this year revealed wrongdoings at Hong Kong-based SinoPac Securities (Asia) Ltd (永豐金證券亞洲), which had provided extensive margin credit for stock positions in troubled China Huishan Dairy Holdings Co (中國輝山乳業).
In addition, Hong Kong regulators in May ordered a trading halt in China Huishan Dairy shares, leading to losses of NT$1 billion (US$33.3 million) for the brokerage and adding pressure to its parent’s bottom line.
However, the company has maintained that Wang had spread false information that damaged its reputation and that her termination was unrelated to her reported role as a whistle-blower.
The company has held two internal review meetings, but Wang only attended the first session, Chen said.
Apart from Wang, the company must also consider the interests of its 8,700 employees in its decision about the matter, Chen added.
At the earnings conference, SinoPac Financial said net income in the first three quarters of this year slipped 2.1 percent annually to NT$68.41 billion, while earnings per share were NT$0.62.
During the same period, the company also incurred a NT$600 million charge on its books to fund a performance bond required for the sale of its US-based banking subsidiary.
Without these charges, company earnings would have posted growth, Chen said.
Meanwhile, the company’s exposure to Sun Power Development and Construction Co (三寶建設) through a series of questionable loans has dropped from US$134 million at the end of last quarter to about US$28 million, Chen said, adding that the borrower has been servicing its debt, and the full amount is to be repaid before the end of this year.
Chen also reiterated his promise to improve the company’s corporate governance and continue efforts to improve internal controls and auditing.
Separately, Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said that the commission would finish drafting amendments to rules on whistle-blower protection in the next two weeks.
The commission is also reviewing the findings of a probe into Wang’s termination by SinoPac Financial and should be making a ruling in the next two weeks, he added.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
Intel Corp is joining Elon Musk’s long-shot effort to develop semiconductors for Tesla Inc, Space Exploration Technologies Corp and xAI, marking a surprising twist in the chipmaker’s comeback bid. Intel would help the Terafab project “refactor” the technology in a chip factory, the company said on Tuesday in a post on X, Musk’s social media platform. That is a stage in the development process that typically helps make chips more powerful or reliable. The chipmaker’s shares jumped 4.2 percent to US$52.91 in New York trading on Tuesday. The Terafab project is a grand plan by Musk to eventually manufacture his own chips for
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said it plans to resume operations at two coal-fired power generators for three months to boost security of electricity supply as liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply risks are running high due to the Middle East conflict. The two coal-fired power generators are at Mailiao Power Plant in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮). The plant, operated by Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), supplied electricity to Taipower’s power grid until the end of last year. Taipower’s decision came about one month after Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) on March 10 said that the nation had no imminent
Some robotaxi passengers were left stranded in the middle of fast-moving traffic in a major Chinese city after their driverless vehicles stopped running, according to police and media reports on Wednesday. A preliminary investigation indicates more than 100 robotaxis came to a halt because of a “system malfunction,” police in the city of Wuhan said in a statement, without elaborating. No injuries were reported. One passenger told Chinese media that their robotaxi stopped after turning a corner. An instruction on a screen read: “Driving system malfunction. Staff are expected to arrive in 5 minutes.” After no one showed up, the passenger pushed
RSS