The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) fined local firms, mostly financial institutions, a total of NT$185.42 million (US$5.8 million) in the first eight months of the year for internal control, financial services misconduct and corporate governance-related breaches, data released last week by the commission showed.
The fines increased 20.2 percent from the NT$154.22 million imposed during the same period last year and reached about 59 percent of the commission’s targeted penalties of NT$313 million for the whole of this year, the commission said, adding that the fines were meted out to firms to correct their deficiencies, not as a means of generating income.
In Taiwan, banks, insurance companies and securities and futures firms obtain special licenses from the government to operate their businesses, but at the same time they also face penalties and disciplinary measures from respective regulators — namely the Banking Bureau, the Insurance Bureau and the Securities and Futures Bureau — if they contravene laws and regulations.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
In addition to fines, the regulators’ penalties include corrections, improvement requirements, warnings and restrictions, as well requiring that a company dismiss or suspend directors, supervisors and managers.
In the January-to-August period, the financial penalties imposed by the Banking Bureau were NT$82.895 million, up 32 percent from a year earlier, with the top three fines levied on CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) and CTBC Bank Co (中信銀行), the commission’s data showed.
According to the commission, the Banking Bureau fined CTBC Financial NT$30 million in August for corporate governance breaches after a major shareholder was found to have improperly interfered in the operations of the company.
The bureau also fined CTBC Bank NT$20 million in May for bank personnel involved in assisting fraud rings and a penalty of NT$10 million in July for theft from clients, the commission’s data showed.
Meanwhile, the Insurance Bureau imposed total fines of NT$49.40 million in the eight-month period, compared with NT$46.30 million last year, led by a penalty of NT$10 million against Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽) in August for failing to comply with corporate governance requirements and for allowing a major shareholder to improperly interfere in company operations.
The Securities and Futures Bureau fined several securities and futures firms including Cathay Securities Co (國泰證券) and Concord Securities Co (康和證券), as well as some publicly listed companies a total of NT$53.12 million in the first eight months, up 17.73 percent year-on-year, the commission’s data showed.
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