Mega Financial Holding Co’s (兆豐金控) workers’ union yesterday called on the government to replace the company’s chairman, Michael Chang (張兆順), with a candidate who could boost the group’s earnings ability and employee morale.
The union made the plea during a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei and by placing ads in two local business newspapers, saying that a vote held earlier showed that 90.66 percent, or nearly 5,000, of its members share this view.
The union said Chang had caused the company to lose clients and sacrificed employees’ benefits by setting what they said were unreasonably high criteria to improve the group’s anti-money laundering record.
Photo: Lee Chin-hui, Taipei Times
The union added that it had conveyed its wishes to the Ministry of Finance, which has a decisive say on who may steer the bank-focused conglomerate given its dominant stake in Mega Financial.
It quoted Deputy Minister of Finance Frank Juan (阮清華) as saying that candidates for all state-run financial institutions are chosen based on their capability to ensure a harmonious relationship between the board and employees.
However, top-ranking officials at Mega Financial and its main subsidiary, Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行), have put anti-money laundering concerns ahead of everything else, and introduced unreasonable hurdles to achieve this at the expense of the interests of customers and employees, the union said.
Chang took over the helm of Mega Financial after his predecessor stepped down to take responsibility for more than US$200 million in fines from US financial regulators for anti-money laundering compliance failures at its US banking branches in 2016 and 2018.
The union said it understood it would be difficult to call for a change in chairperson, but hoped the government would turn a sympathetic ear to its cause.
The shareholders’ meeting approved a proposal to distribute cash dividends of NT$1.65 per share from last year’s earnings.
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