SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) is to improve corporate governance this year after making noticeable headway in boosting profitability last quarter, top executives said on Tuesday.
SinoPac Securities Ltd (永豐金證券) president Yeh Huang-chi (葉黃杞), who was suspended from duty twice last year for involvement in irregular securities trading activity, has offered to resign, SinoPac Financial Holdings president Stanley Chu (朱士廷) told an investors’ conference in Taipei.
The board of directors would soon discuss Huang’s offer, Chu said, adding that he is not in a position to pass judgment on individuals.
The revelation came after institutional investors from Pau Jar Group (寶佳機構), a New Taipei City-based developer, raised questions over SinoPac Financial’s corporate governance record.
Pau Jar has acquired considerable stakes in SinoPac Financial, Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) and China Bills Finance Corp (中華票券) through an affiliate on the open market.
The real-estate developer has made known its interest in owning financial institutions.
Chu declined to comment on Pau Jar’s intentions, saying that it is common for institutional investors to be concerned about companies in which they own stakes.
SinoPac Financial would not elect a new board for two years, Chu said.
The bank-focused conglomerate has embarked on management and organizational reshuffles this past year, following a spate of loan scandals, he said.
SinoPac Financial has launched a corporate sustainability panel and a whistle-blowing mechanism that would protect employees from punishment for exposing irregular activity, Chu said, adding that the panel would be comprised of independent directors from subsidiaries to ensure its independence.
SinoPac Financial posted NT$2.65 billion (US$88.19 million) in net income in the first quarter of this year, up 12.1 percent from a year earlier and increasing 46.38 percent from the previous quarter, thanks to gains in fee income at Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) and SinoPac Securities.
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