Taiwan to appoint local banking veteran as Mega Financial chairman -sources (updated)

Mega Financial Holding Co

01/09/2016 09:30

* Ruling DPP to appoint Michael C.S. Chang 
    * DPP previously appointed Chang to chair First Financial 
    * Chang's predecessor resigned after U.S. branch fined 
    * Fine prompted government investigation of Mega Financial 
 
 (Adds context) 
    By Liang-Sa Loh 
    TAIPEI, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Taiwan's government is set to 
appoint banking veteran Michael C.S. Chang as chairman of 
state-owned Mega Financial Holding Co Ltd  2886.TW  as early as 
Thursday, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. 
    The appointment would come a day after Shiu Kuang-si quit as 
chairman. Shiu said he wanted to quash speculation that he could 
influence a probe into Mega's banking unit after a New York 
branch was found to have violated U.S. anti-money laundering 
regulations and fined $180 million last month.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1BC1PZ 
    The heads of state-controlled financial institutions are 
appointed by the government. The current government is formed by 
the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that 
assumed power in May after eight years of Nationalist rule. 
    The DPP, during its previous term in office, appointed Chang 
chairman of state-controlled First Financial Holding Co Ltd 
 2892.TW , a position he held from 2006 to 2008. 
    The cabinet office was not available for comment on the 
latest appointment, and Mega Financial said it had no comment. 
The people familiar with the matter declined to be identified as 
they were not authorised to speak with media. 
    The U.S. fine, the first for a Taiwan-based financial 
institution in a decade, prompted Taiwanese prosecutors to 
summon current and former executives of Mega Financial for 
questioning, as well as a former finance minister.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1B4221 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1BA2IA 
    As part of the probe, Taiwan's cabinet also formed an 
emergency task force to supervise an investigation into Mega 
Financial's New York operations, with regulatory staff 
travelling this week to the United States and Panama. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1B62ZW  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1BB2ND 
    Earlier on Thursday, Mega Financial said its current 
president Wu Hann-ching would serve as interim chairman after 
Shiu's resignation. 
    Shiu had been Mega Financial's president during the time 
that New York authorities found in their investigation that the 
local bank branch paid lax attention to risk exposure in Panama. 
 
 (Reporting by Liang-Sa Loh; Writing by J.R. Wu; Editing by 
Christopher Cushing) 
 ((jr.wu@thomsonreuters.com; +886 2 2500 4881; Reuters 
Messaging: jr.wu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: MEGA FHC TAIWAN/