BREAKING POINT? The Financial Supervisory Commission is finalizing its assessment of companies, insisting that corporate governance is a priority of the commission

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 05, 2017
By: Ted Chen  /  Staff reporter

In light of a streak of banking scandals this year, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) yesterday said that the commission intends to impose penalties next week on companies that have failed to meet corporate governance requirements.

The list of companies is likely to include SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) — which has been plagued by infractions in its banking, leasing and securities brokerage units — as well as the state-run lenders Bank of Kaohsiung (高雄銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) for their participation in a syndicated loan to finance troubled Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co’s (慶富造船) contract to build minesweeper ships for the navy.

Koo declined to provide further details, as the commission is finalizing its assessment of companies’ performance against corporate governance metrics.

Improving corporate governance has been the commission’s priority, and that it would adopt a “carrot and stick” approach to regulating companies, Koo said at a forum held by the Taiwan Insurance Institute in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]