CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行), Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行), and Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank (上海商業儲蓄銀行) yesterday gained approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to launch wealth management programs for high-net-worth clients over the next three years, Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Huang Kuang-hsi (黃光熙) told a news conference at the commission’s headquarters in New Taipei City.
Six other lenders failed to gain approval to launch similar programs as they were “less prepared,” Huang said, adding that there is room for improvement in their operational plans and risk management.
The commission took into account whether a bank's regulatory compliance was solid, as some of the banks that filed applications were fined earlier this year after their customer relationship managers were charged for stealing money from clients, Huang said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The commission would consider suspending the licenses for the newly approved programs if staff at the banks are found to have breached the Banking Act (銀行法), he said.
The commission has also asked the boards of the three banks to establish a committee or task an existing committee to be accountable for the new wealth management programs, Huang said.
“We think the board of directors should take more responsibility and supervise the management of the new programs,” he said.
The commission plans to conduct another round of application reviews next month, Huang said, adding that the six banks that failed in the first round are welcomed to apply again.
The new wealth management programs for high-asset customers would enable banks to provide eight new financial products or services, such as foreign-currency-denominated structured notes and derivatives linked to the TAIEX or other indices in the local equity market, the commission said.
High-asset customers are defined as those investing more than NT$100 million (US$3.51 million), a classification similar to that of private banks in Hong Kong, Huang said.
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Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day