The Financial Supervisory Com-mission abruptly announced late last night that it would take over The Chinese Bank (中華銀行) after two subsidiaries under its parent company, Rebar Asia Pacific Group, claimed insolvency protection.
The decision was made after the takeover of troubled Enterprise Bank of Hualien (花蓮企銀) yesterday afternoon in an unprecedented case of the govenment taking over two lenders in a single day.
The commission was to delegate the Central Deposit Insurance Corp to take over the bank at midnight last night. The comission also immediately suspended all powers held by The Chinese Bank's board, supervisors and shareholders. Its board directors have been banned from leaving the country and their assets have been frozen.
The bank's net worth had reached negative NT$15.3 billion (US$469 million). Its shares will be traded in cash transaction only starting on Monday.
"Panicked depositors withdrew NT$13 billion as of yesterday, which consumed all the bank's cash," commission Chairman Shih Jun-ji (
Central Deposit Insurance will inject NT$30 billion into the bank on Monday to handle further withdrawals, he said, "and every penny of people's deposits is fully secure."
The debt-ridden bank's operations will continue as normal during the takeover period, he said.
It appeared that the financial regulator misjudged the whole situation, as
Shih assured the public yesterday afternoon that they are able to but would
not take over the Chinese Bank. "We did not expect things to become so worse
with this scale of bank runs beforehand," Shih said.
He said the commission will introspect the whole process afterwards and he
would bear the responsibility for consequences if there's any.
also see story:
Rebar admits notification delay
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER: In Germany, the sector would be developed around Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s plant, and extend to Poland and the Czech Republic The Executive Yuan’s economic diplomacy task force has approved programs aimed at bolstering the nation’s chip diplomacy with Japan and European nations. The task force in its first meeting had its operational mechanism and organizational structure confirmed, with Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) the convener, and Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Minister Without Portfolio Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成) the deputy conveners. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) would be the convener of the task force’s strategy group in charge of policy planning for economic diplomacy. The meeting was attended by the heads of the National Development Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the