Investors on Thursday continued to vent their frustrations at a public hearing with lawmakers and regulators that explored measures to improve public advocacy and dispute resolution.
The Financial Ombudsman Institute is unable to serve the needs of some investors, as it does not process disputes involving overseas bank branches, which poses a growing concern as crossborder activities become a more common part of financial planning, legal experts said.
A number of affected investors who operate businesses in China said that they were mis-sold yuan-linked target redemption forwards by a Hong Kong branch of Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行).
The investors said that that the bank enticed them to purchase the risky derivatives by offering a bigger credit line and claiming that the sales recommendation was authorized by Fubon headquarters in Taipei.
However, as the derivative began to rack up losses, Fubon refused to use the Taiwanese dispute resolution mechanism and told the investors to pursue their cases with its Hong Kong branch.
The investors also said that the ombudsman was unable to take on their cases, as the disputed amounts exceed its NT$1 million (US$33,311) limit.
The Financial Supervisory Commission’s Banking Bureau said that Taipei-based head offices are responsible for actions by overseas branches and are required to take part in the dispute resolution process.
Fubon said that it has maintained communication with the affected investors and they are making progress toward a resolution.
The lender was surprised to learn of the investor complaint, as a meeting on Wednesday ended on a positive note, it said.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and an accounting firm have cleared Fubon of any wrongdoings in the case and it would continue to follow up on the negotiations, the bank said.
Responding to a different matter, the commission said it is to punish a number of brokerages that caused immense losses among TAIEX options investors during a flash crash on Feb. 6 because their older trading systems were unable to cope with the extreme volatility during the session.
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
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy