IBF Financial Holdings Co (國票金控) president Michael Ding (丁予嘉) yesterday resigned over conflict of interest allegations relating to the company’s planned acquisition of EnTie Bank (安泰銀行), which is chaired by his brother, Jesse Ding (丁予康).
Michael Ding handed in his resignation at 8am ahead of a special shareholders’ meeting in Taipei where the EnTie deal was supposed to be discussed.
The move came after IBF Financial board director James Wei (魏憶龍) — who represents Hua-Kang International Asset Management Corp (華康國際資產), a corporate shareholder in IBF — on Wednesday said that an October board meeting where the deal was approved was not held in accordance with the Financial Holding Company Act (金控法).
Photo: CNA
The asset management company is an affiliate of Nice Enterprise Co (耐斯企業), which holds a stake of about 5 percent in IBF.
As the companies are led by brothers, IBF’s acquisition of EnTie should have been proposed in a special resolution, requiring approvals from a supermajority of directors, Wei said.
At least two-thirds of directors would have had to attend the meeting and at least three-quarters of attendants would have had to vote for the proposal to pass, as regulated by Article 45 of the act, Wei added.
However, the board only passed an ordinary resolution on the acquisition, which was opposed by six out of 13 directors at the meeting, Wei said.
IBF yesterday said that Michael Ding had resigned due to personal reasons, and chairman Wea Chi-lin (魏啟林) would temporarily take over for the outgoing president.
Michael Ding had avoided attending meetings where the acquisition of EnTie was discussed, the company said.
He was not involved in the company’s internal assessment of the deal, it added.
IBF said it has consulted its lawyers, who found that no special resolution would have been necessary, as the deal would be struck between the two firms, and neither of the Ding brothers would be a party in the deal.
The Financial Supervisory Commission is seeking to clarify whether there was a conflict of interest and whether Article 45 applies in this instance, Banking Bureau Chief Secretary Phil Tong (童政彰) said yesterday.
As IBF has not applied to the commission to acquire the bank or submitted minutes of board meetings, the commission could thus far not make a judgement, Tong said.
About 67 percent of shareholders attended IBF’s special shareholders’ meeting yesterday, and 73.5 percent of them voted in favor of the acquisition, the company said.
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