The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday fined a number of local lenders a total of NT$11.8 million (US$362,230) for their poor internal controls and lack of legal compliance.
Taiwan Business Bank (
The employee was fired and faces legal proceedings, while the bank's Lujou (
Chinatrust Commercial Bank (
The commission punished the two lenders because it said their debt collection agencies were threatening, insulting and harassing debtors.
The financial watchdog again reminded banks of their obligation to choose the companies they outsourced their collection services to very carefully and to oversee their operations. The banks bore the responsibility if their agents infringed on their clients' rights and interests, the commission said.
Land Bank of Taiwan (
The lender's grave error had in part led to the controversial resignation of Shih Che (史哲) from his position as president of the Bureau of Labor Insurance, as his bank account was discovered to have suddenly swollen by NT$391 million.
Shin Kong Insurance Co (
The insurer was also punished for failing to report its actions to the authority, thereby violating the Insurance Law (保險法) that aims to reduce investment risks and facilitate development and construction, according to the regulator.
Meanwhile, the regulator said it would scrap an earlier punishment meted out to China Development Financial Holding Corp (
Daniel Wu (
China Development's appointment of Tsao Wei-shih (
The regulator said last month that it would overrule all applications by China Development, including business expansion and investment plans, until the company followed the regulator's ruling and dismissed Wu from its board and the boards of its affiliates for his failure to avoid a conflict of interest in a hostile takeover attempt.
Poland is betting on a flood of investments and technology transfers from Taiwanese companies to reengineer its US$1 trillion economy. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said yesterday that Poland will no longer be “just an assembly hub” as it pursues further investments from the likes of Foxconn Technology Group (富士康). The firm, whose full name is Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), last month agreed to build electric vehicles (EVs) in the European Union nation and now could be a partner in a semiconductor venture, he said. The government’s aim is to boost manufacturing and the country’s high-tech chops in an era
Taiwan remained the sixth-largest net creditor nation in the world last year, despite a fall of more than 10 percent in its net international investment position (NIIP) over the year, the central bank said yesterday. The NIIP is the difference between a country’s external financial assets and its external financial liabilities. Taiwan’s external financial assets hit US$3.27 trillion at the end of last year, up US$275.75 billion or 9.2 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said in its annual NIIP report. The growth largely reflected an increase in holdings of overseas marketable securities by residents in Taiwan, as well as a
BAD FAITH LITIGATION? The two companies, owned by a California-based private equity firm, could be seeking licensing fees or a settlement payout with the suit Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) Director-General Liao Cheng-wei (廖承威) said yesterday he suspected that two firms suing contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) for patent infringement are “patent trolls.” A patent troll refers to a company that buys patents not for manufacturing products, but to sue other companies for compensation, accusing them of using its patents. Patent trolls, formally called Non-Practicing Entities or Patent Assertion Entities, were responsible for more than 50 percent of lawsuits in the US last year, costing targeted businesses tens of billions of US dollars a year, according to the US-based LegalCharity Web site. Asked whether
RESTRICTION BREACH: ASML said that it denies ‘unfounded rumors regarding non-compliance with export controls concerning China,’ and enforces controls strictly US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in a series of recent meetings outlined concerns to Dutch chip-equipment giant ASML Holding NV’s senior leaders that one of its top-of-the-line machines might have made its way into China, in violation of US-led export restrictions. In the meetings, Lutnick expressed concern to ASML executives over the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, people familiar with the talks said. EUV systems are used by firms such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) to manufacture processors for the likes of Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc. ASML has never been allowed to ship them to China because of curbs