Banks’ management of financial consultants would be a key issue in the next financial examination, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday in the aftermath of another alleged financial theft.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday subpoenaed a financial consultant, Chang Hsiu-mi (張秀米), at state-run Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行), who was accused of stealing NT$150 million (US$4.85 million) from more than 10 clients since 2005.
Chang allegedly withdrew money from her clients’ accounts and made loans in their names, before transferring the money into Full Most Co (豐茂國際), a company operated by her relatives.
The case came to light after one of Chang’s clients last month informed the bank of the alleged anomaly, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) reported yesterday.
Lawmakers expressed concern whether banks are able to protect their clients, even though they are required to monitor withdrawals greater than NT$500,000 under the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法).
“Why was the commission not able to detect the theft through financial examinations over such a long period?” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) asked Koo at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee.
The commission should enhance its punishment of banks if they do not comply with internal audit and control rules, Lai said.
Koo said the commission has already asked banks to propose improvement plans and has required them to strengthen supervision of their financial consultants.
He said financial advisers would be prohibited from using their clients’ stamps to make loans or withdrawals, which should curb fraud.
There have been 24 thefts committed by financial consultants from 17 local banks since 2012, with fines issued totaling NT$86 million, the Banking Bureau said.
The 24 consultants were fired by their banks according to the Banking Act (銀行法) and may return to the banking industry after five years, the bureau said.
The Bank of Kaohsiung (高雄銀行) received the highest fine of NT$14 million from the bureau, followed by the Land Bank of Taiwan’s (土地銀行) fine of NT$7 million, Standard Chartered Bank Taiwan Ltd’s (渣打台灣銀行) NT$9 million and Taipei Fubon Bank’s (台北富邦銀行) NT$6 million, it said.
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