The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on Tuesday asked banks to examine their mortgage practices, as it had found that dummy accounts had been used to inflate real-estate prices in metropolitan Taipei.
It found that about 20 investors offered money management courses in which they encouraged consumers to apply for mortgages with banks, saying that they would help them invest in property free of charge, Financial Examination Bureau Deputy Director General Chang Tzy-ming (張子敏) told a news conference.
The investors helped them pay the mortgages, assigning scriveners to withdraw cash from banks to pay the debt, Chang said.
The scheme to inflate prices also included forging contracts, Chang said.
Two local banks were involved, with their staff participating in the investment courses, Chang said, urging the government to ban such practices.
The banks failed to appraise the properties appropriately and did not notice that market values stated in the contracts were too high, the commission said, adding that the lenders did not consult the government’s actual-price registration system.
They also did not notice that dummy accounts were used, it said.
Meanwhile, the banks provided working funds to the mortgage takers, indirectly contravening the loan-to-value limits on mortgages set by the central bank, the commission said, adding that this increased the risk of the loans.
The commission on Thursday held a virtual meeting with general managers of all local banks, credit unions and bill finance companies, asking them to examine their practices and reminding them that their mortgage operations would be examined later this year.
As the central bank earlier this month asked construction companies to develop their projects within 18 months of taking loans, the commission asked the banks to penalize those who breach the rules, Chang said.
“Banks must not help borrowers hoard land,” Chang said.
The Banking Bureau is considering whether to raise the risk weighting of mortgages in the calculation of capital adequacy at banks and reduce a bank’s capital adequacy if it has approved too many loans with high loan-to-value ratios, the commission said.
The new method of calculation might take effect as soon as June, it said.
The commission was the second government agency to hold talks with banks about the mortgage issue, following the central bank last week.
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Taiwanese prosecutors suspect that three people successfully smuggled at least one shipment of Nvidia Corp artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China after first exporting them to Japan, people familiar with the matter said. The trio was detained last week by the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office for allegedly falsifying documents related to exports of Super Micro Computer Inc servers containing advanced Nvidia chips, which the US has barred from sale to China without a license from Washington. The move marked Taiwan’s first public crackdown on AI chip diversion after years of pressure from the US to take a more active role in curtailing
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) employee bonuses are likely to grow more than 30 percent this year, in line with the past few years as the company’s profits continue to set new records, an anonymous source cited TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) as saying yesterday. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is committed to taking care of its workers, the source said, citing Wei’s meeting with employees yesterday morning. Wei also expressed gratitude to employees for their contribution to the company’s improving bottom line, the source added. Since 2023, TSMC’s employee bonuses have grown at an annual rate of
RSS