Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒) stepped down yesterday as chairman and director of the board of Chinatrust Commercial Bank.
His decision came after the bank's board held an ad hoc meeting to discuss the management changes demanded by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) over Chinatrust's irregular trading in offshore debt.
The board's vice chairman, Charles Lo (
On Thursday the FSC penalized the bank NT$10 million (US$305,500) for irregularities connected to parent Chinatrust Financial Holding Co's controversial investment in larger rival Mega Financial Holding Co.
"The commission's punishments have had a significant impact on my colleagues and the image of the company and I feel responsible," Koo said in a letter sent to all bank employees.
"I therefore decided to resign during today's board meeting," he said.
However, he said he would remain vice chairman of Chinatrust Financial, the nation's fourth-largest financial group by assets.
Koo, 42, is the elder son of Jeffrey Koo (
The FSC said that the bank must punish other managers, including chief financial officer Perry Chang (張明田), and offload a 3.9 percent stake in Mega Financial within a year. The bank will take all actions required of it as soon as it receives the FSC's documents, the statement said.
On June 27, the FSC punished Chinatrust Financial by freezing the bank's applications for the establishment of new outlets and fundraising plans.
Besides Chinatrust Financial, the Koo family controls China Development Financial Holding Corp, where Jeffrey Koo's second son Angelo Koo (
Earlier yesterday, Government Information Office Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (¾G¤åÀé) said the punishment handed out to Chinatrust Financial was not aimed at the Koo Family.
"This punishment is for the company, not the Koo family," Cheng said at a press briefing.
Cheng said that the FSC's punishment of Chinatrust Financial was imposed because of mistakes made by the company when it invested in Mega Financial. The same punishment would have been given to any financial company making the same mistake.
"From the FSC's point of view, a financial company must be supervised when it is managing a huge amount of public funds," Cheng said.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
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