TITLE: Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission Imposes Administrative Penalty on Taichung Commercial Bank for Anti-Money Laundering Deficiencies
BODY:
On May 12, 2026, Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) issued an administrative penalty of New Taiwan Dollar (NTD) 32 million against Taichung Commercial Bank for deficiencies in deposit account opening procedures, ongoing customer identity verification, and account monitoring mechanisms.
The FSC found that Taichung Commercial Bank failed to establish and properly execute internal control systems across ten branches (Tanzi, Zhongzheng, Beitun, Toufen, Yuanlin, Dounan, West Taichung, Taipei, Zuoying, and Wuqi). Between April 2024 and the enforcement date, the bank opened deposit accounts for 21 corporate customers without implementing adequate due diligence procedures. Key deficiencies included: insufficient vetting mechanisms for first-time corporate customers with low capital, no geographic connection, or unclear business purposes; failure to retain documentation of off-site account opening procedures; inadequate monitoring of unusual transaction patterns; and inconsistent application of suspicious transaction reporting requirements. The bank also failed to implement proper controls over online banking transaction limits for new corporate customers with low capital.
The FSC determined the violations breached the Banking Act Article 45-1(1), the Regulations Governing Internal Control and Audit Systems of Financial Holding Companies and Banks, and provisions of the Money Laundering Control Act Enforcement Rules (Articles 3, 5, 6, 9, and 15).
The bank must submit a comprehensive remediation plan within one month, engage external professional institutions within one month to recalibrate its anti-money laundering mechanisms, conduct a full review of employee-initiated account openings within two months, and increase operational risk capital provisions under the Bank Capital Adequacy and Capital Grade Management Regulations.