Bank of Kaohsiung chairman Lee Ruey-tsang (李瑞倉) was yesterday appointed as the chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission amid a crisis engulfing the nation’s highest financial regulatory body.
Premier Lin Chuan (林全) feels that Lee has the ability to lead the commission, based on Lee’s experience as a close aide during Lin’s tenure as minister of finance, Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said.
“Lee worked with Lin for a long time when Lin was at the ministry, so the premier has a considerable understanding of Lee’s abilities and perspectives,” Hsu said.
Lee, a graduate of National Chengchi University’s Department of Land Finance, served as acting minister and vice minister of the ministry and as the director-general of the National Property Administration.
“Although Lee’s background is in land administration, there should be no problem regarding his qualifications,” Hsu said, in response to questions about Lee’s qualifications.
Lee’s appointment at the bank was based on a recommendation by Lin, who has decided to reassign him to the commission, Hsu said, when asked if Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) had made suggestions regarding Lee’s position.
Lee is to take over from commission Acting Chairman Huang Tien-mu (黃天牧), who filled the post after former chairman Ding Kung-wha (丁克華) resigned on Oct. 3 to assume responsibility for Mega International Commercial Bank’s (兆豐銀行) violation of US money laundering laws and a failed tender offer involving XPEC Entertainment Inc (樂陞科技).
The New York Department of Financial Services in August fined Mega Bank’s New York branch US$180 million fine over its failure to comply with money-laundering regulations and a lack of a compliance oversight.
A failed acquisition of XPEC by a Japanese-run firm is rumored to have been a scheme to cheat investors, as XPEC’s stock price soared on the news of the acquisition in May, but plummeted in August after the tender offer was rescinded.
Lin and Lee are to discuss the appointment of a new vice chairperson for the commission, Hsu said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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