Print

Mail

wiki links

Prosecutors raid offices of Yuanta Securities

“Prosecutors have searched our headquarters and several other places in line with its investigation into a structured note trading back in 2005.”

— Chuang Yu-teh, Yuanta Securities spokesperson

Taipei prosecutors raided Yuanta Securities Corp (元大證券) yesterday afternoon and detained several high-ranking officials of the nation’s largest brokerage firm for questioning over suspected trading irregularities, a company official said.

“Prosecutors have searched our headquarters and several other places in line with its investigation into a structured note trading back in 2005,” Chuang Yu-teh (莊有德), spokesperson for Yuanta Securities, told local cable channel USTV last night in a telephone interview.

A Central News Agency report said that prosecutors and investigators simultaneously searched 11 locations yesterday afternoon, including Yuanta Securities’ headquarters in Taipei.

It said prosecutors also searched the residences of several of the brokerage’s top management, including Yuanta Securities chairwoman Judy Tu (杜麗莊), president Lee Chang (張立秋) and bond department assistant manager Wu Li-min (吳麗敏).

Eight company officials, including Tu, Chang and Wu, were summoned by prosecutors for questioning, Chuang said.

The questioning was still ongoing as of press time.

The Financial Supervisory Commission started investigating last year suspected irregularities involving the sale of shares of Yuanta Investment Trust Co (元大投信) to Yuanta Securities in 2005, after the former suffered substantial losses from its investment in interest rate-linked structured notes following a series of interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, the report said.

Prosecutors alleged that with the share sale, Tu reaped large profits through interest arbitrage while leaving Yuanta Securities to suffer from absorbing part of its investment affiliates’ losses and damaging the interests of its shareholders.

Chuang yesterday denied that the company did anything wrong in the deal, saying the company followed the financial regulator’s instructions in dealing with the structured note investment.


This story has been viewed 1437 times.