Taishin Securities Suffers Repeated Outages After MasterLink Merger, Duplicate Trades Top NT$100 Million

Taishin Securities integrated its electronic trading systems following its merger with MasterLink Securities, affecting the order and execution rights of a large number of investors. An unstable transition could cause booking errors and customer losses while exposing risks in the brokerage’s IT governance, business continuity and internal controls. The problems have therefore drawn close scrutiny from Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission and the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

On April 14, system optimization at Taishin Securities disrupted order-status reports, prompting customers to resubmit orders after timeouts and causing duplicate executions. Subsequent figures showed more than 9,000 erroneous trades totaling NT$1.76 billion, with the brokerage assuming all losses. The Taiwan Stock Exchange imposed an initial NT$100,000 fine after the firm failed to submit accurate final reports on time. The FSC ordered Taishin Securities to report the matter as a major contingency, submit short-, medium- and long-term remediation plans, and undergo an on-site inspection. Violations could carry a maximum fine of NT$6 million.