The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on Thursday last week fined Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽) NT$6.6 million (US$1.8 million) for failing to supervise a manager involved in illegal stock disclosures.
Managers who oversee stock trades cannot disclose to others which shares are to be bought or sold so that conflict of interest is avoided, Insurance Bureau Deputy Director-General Wang Li-hui (王麗惠) said.
A Nan Shan manager surnamed Yeh (葉) reportedly disclosed trading information to more than 200 people on the Line messaging app, Wang said.
Yeh reportedly leaked the information to his wife, who worked at a securities investment company, so that the couple could trade the same shares and manipulate the prices, Wang added.
Yeh, having worked at Nan Shan since March 2016, should have known regulations regarding information control and avoiding conflicts of interest, Wang said.
Nan Shan became aware of the incidents in May last year, but did not report them to the commission until July, Wang said, adding that the company submitted a report to the commission when it learned that Chinese-language media were about to break the story.
Nan Shan was fined NT$4.8 million after failing to enforce internal control mechanisms, and NT$1.8 million for failing to report the matter promptly, Wang said.
Nan Shan said in a statement that the manager’s conduct had not affected client benefits and that Yeh, who quit last year, would have to reimburse the company.
Yeh is to be barred from working in the Taiwanese insurance industry for five years, Wang said.
This year, Nan Shan has been fined five times for a total of NT$16.8 million, the bureau said.
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