The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) fined financial institutions and publicly listed firms NT$254.05 million (US$8.27 million) last year, slightly lower than the NT$254.62 million recorded in 2022, data from the financial regulator showed on Sunday.
Last year’s figure was the lowest since 2019, when the commission handed out penalties totaling NT$300.38 million to firms for financial services misconduct, and breaches related to internal controls and corporate governance, the data showed.
Last year’s fines were 77.33 percent of its target of NT$328.53 million in penalties, the commission said.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
The commission said the low total was because fines were handed out to firms to correct their deficiencies, not as a means of generating income.
In addition to fines, the regulator’s penalties include corrections, improvements, warnings and restrictions, as well as requiring that a company dismiss or suspend directors, supervisors and managers.
In Taiwan, financial institutions such as banks, insurance companies, securities brokerages, futures firms and investment trust enterprises obtain special licenses from the government to operate.
They also face penalties and disciplinary measures from authorities — namely the Banking Bureau, the Insurance Bureau and the Securities and Futures Bureau — if they contravene laws and regulations.
The Banking Bureau fined firms NT$130.9 million last year, up 19.96 percent from a year earlier and accounting for 51 percent of all fines, the commission’s data showed.
Among the severest penalties was a NT$30 million fine imposed on CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) in August for corporate governance breaches after a major shareholder was found to have improperly interfered in company operations.
The Securities and Futures Bureau issued fines totaling NT$70.70 million last year, up 6.54 percent from 2022, with the top fine of NT$1.8 million levied on Fubon Asset Management Co (富邦投信) for poor internal controls.
The Insurance Bureau handed out fines of NT$52.45 million — a 32.5 percent decline from a year earlier.
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