Taiwan Regulator Fines Hua Nan Bank NT$8 Million Over Employee Misappropriation

ATM and interbank clearing accounts are a core part of banks’ daily reconciliation processes, making the monitoring of long-outstanding balances an important internal-control safeguard. The case at CTBC Bank Co. highlights how funds left unreconciled for extended periods can create opportunities for employee misconduct and expose weaknesses in oversight, account review and segregation of duties.

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission said a former CTBC employee surnamed Liao began misappropriating ATM and interbank clearing funds in November 2024, targeting entries that had remained outstanding for more than two years. The conduct continued for 10 consecutive months and involved about NT$2.97 million. The regulator found CTBC had failed to adequately establish and enforce internal controls, imposing a NT$4 million fine under the Banking Act and ordering corrective measures.

A former Taishin Bank financial adviser allegedly exploited the trust of two elderly clients between December 2021 and October 2023, misappropriating a combined NT$1.57 million by swapping their ATM cards and making unauthorized withdrawals. Beyond employee fraud, the case exposed internal-control weaknesses in customer asset verification, staff management and the reporting of major unexpected incidents, undermining trust in the bank’s high-net-worth wealth management business.

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission announced the penalty on May 26, 2026. It said an inspection conducted from February 25 to March 28, 2025, found that Taishin Bank had decided not to report the matter after internal investigations on January 22, 2024, and March 11, 2025. The FSC fined the bank NT$14 million and ordered corrective action. It also barred the bank for one month from accepting new clients for its high-net-worth business and its pilot operations in the Kaohsiung Asset Management Zone. Those activities may resume only after the bank’s improvements are approved.