There is no guarantee that Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) will be able to avoid being fined by US regulators for the failure of its New York branch to comply with US regulations on money laundering, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday.
The New York branch of Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀) also failed to pass the latest financial examination by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) for procedural shortcomings, Koo said.
However, while the failure to pass the tests does raise some red flags, it does not mean that the two state-run banks were involved in money laundering, Koo told lawmakers on the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee.
Photo: CNA
Hua Nan Bank had received a warning from the NYDFS for shortcomings in its transaction monitoring, filtering and reporting system, and it has been asked to submit an improvement plan, he said.
Mega Bank, which was fined US$180 million in August last year for contravening US regulations, is expected to complete its improvement plan by the first quarter of next year and achieve compliance, Koo said.
The FSC chairman said he would ask central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) for help in mediation efforts so the two banks could avoid being fined by US regulators, as they have both pledged to fully cooperate in cleaning up their practices.
Mega Bank is stepping up its efforts to fully comply with US regulations by the first quarter of next year, while Hua Nan Bank will present an improvement plan to US authorities, Koo said.
However, the commission cannot comment directly on the cases until the NYDFS discloses the findings of its investigation, as any information pertaining to such an investigation would be confidential, Koo said.
The commission said that eight Taiwanese banks with operations in New York have passed their US financial examinations: Bank of Taiwan (台銀), First Commercial Bank (一銀), Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰銀), Land Bank of Taiwan (土銀), CTBC Bank (中信銀), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀), Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank (上海商銀) and Taiwan Business Bank (台企銀).
Koo also told lawmakers that the commission has asked Mega Bank to submit a report about an alleged theft of NT$33 million (US$1.09 million) by an employee at its branch in Thailand over a four-year period.
The commission is would also look into whether the termination of a SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) executive violated a law barring retaliation against whistle-blowers, he said.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
‘COMMITTED TO DETERRENCE’: Washington would stand by its allies, but it can only help as much as countries help themselves, Raymond Greene said The US is committed to deterrence in the first island chain, but it should not bear the burden alone, as “freedom is not free,” American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said in a speech at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s “Strengthening Resilience: Defense as the Engine of Development” seminar in Taipei yesterday. In the speech, titled “Investing Together and a Secure and Prosperous Future,” Greene highlighted the contributions of US President Donald Trump’s administration to Taiwan’s defense efforts, including the establishment of supply chains for drones and autonomous systems, offers of security assistance and the expansion of
RSS