Brokerage Fubon Securities Co (
"Unfamiliar with the new trading system, a nervous trader in our company placed a wrong order on a basket of stocks for an overseas customer," said Victor Kung (龔天行), spokesman for Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), in a statement filed with the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp. He did not reveal the firm's client.
But Chinese-language media reported that the trader made the mistake when placing orders for Merrill Lynch & Co, which placed shares worth NT$80 million which was mistaken for NT$8 billion by the trader.
The trader, unnamed, will be fired, Kung said in the statement.
Fubon Securities is a brokerage unit of the nation's second-largest financial holding company.
In a later statement, the brokerage said it had already sold back around NT$1 billion worth of shares on the market yesterday and it would continue to sell the rest to reduce losses as much as possible.
Fubon Securities declined to comment on a media estimate of NT$600 million in losses, saying it is still calculating its losses from the trade, a company official told the Taipei Times under condition of anonymity.
But the brokerage stressed that the erroneous transaction would only have a limited impact on the stock market, as most of the 300 affected stocks were small-cap equities.
The transaction caused the broader TAIEX to leap 57.63 points, or 0.92 percent, to 6342.45 points between 11:38am and 11:41am, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp. Turnover was NT$9.41 billion during the 3- minute period.
The index retreated later after the mistake was uncovered. The index ended 0.6 percent lower, to close at 6302.99 points, yesterday.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don’t believe there’s any way it’s going to happen as long as I’m here. We’ll see,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News’ Special Report. “He told me: ‘I will never do
RSS