Taishin Bank Fined NT$14 Million for Failure to Report Misappropriation by Former RM

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) announced today that a former relationship manager at Taishin Bank misappropriated a total of NT$1.57 million from clients, both of whom were elderly. During a business inspection last year, the FSC discovered that Taishin Bank had decided not to report the incident as a major contingency after discovering it internally, violating the Banking Act. Consequently, the FSC fined Taishin Bank NT$14 million. Wang Yun-chung, Deputy Director-General of the Banking Bureau of the FSC, explained today that there were two main patterns in this case. First, the relationship manager abused the trust of elderly clients, stealing their credit cards during home visits, swapping new ATM cards for old ones when clients requested replacements, and stealing passwords while clients were at the bank for online banking procedures. Second, the relationship manager took cash from clients intended for insurance purchases but never purchased the insurance, instead embezzling the funds. Wang stated that in addition to the fine, Taishin Bank is required to stop accepting new clients for high-net-worth financial products and services, as well as stop accepting new clients for trial business in the Kaohsiung asset management zone for one month. They will only be allowed to resume these services after the FSC approves their improvements.