Line Bank report on crash not satisfactory: regulator
By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter
A report by Web-only Line Bank Taiwan Ltd (連線商業銀行) explaining why its information system crashed on the first day of operation was not satisfactory and the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) would demand that the bank improve its operations, commission Chairman Thomas Huang (黃天牧) said yesterday.
The commission on April 23 asked the virtual bank to submit a report on the crash and the lender has submitted it, Huang told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee in Taipei.
“However, we cannot completely accept the report,” Huang said.
Signage for Line Bank Taiwan Ltd is displayed at the company’s headquarters in Taipei yesterday.
Line Bank Taiwan Ltd (連線商業銀行), the nation’s second Web-only bank, launched on Thursday, but promptly drew a rebuke from the regulator after its system crashed.
The virtual bank launched its banking service, integrated into the messaging app Line offered by its affiliate Line Taiwan Ltd (台灣連線), at about 5pm on Thursday, but users said they could not access the service.
People who clicked on its Web page were greeted by either a blank page or a “server is busy” message.
That was contrary to the bank’s claims that people would be able to open an account within six minutes and its promise
FSC investigating Next Bank purchase
By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) is conducting a financial examination of Next Bank (將來銀行), a Web-only bank that has not yet begun operations, to see if it acquired an overpriced information technology (IT) system from its largest shareholder, Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the commission said yesterday.
The commission last week received reports about the deal from a few whistle-blowers, as well as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰).
It is rare for the commission to inspect banks that have not yet begun operations.
Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Thomas Huang speaks at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee in Taipei yesterday.
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Manpyo Daisuke is the owner and president of Hanshin Bank which is ranked in tenth place in terms of volume of deposits at a time when Japan is enjoying rapid economic growth after World War II. He heads the Manpyo group of companies which manages many businesses including Hanshin Steel, Manpyo Real Estate, Manpyo Trading and Manpyo Warehouses in addition to Hanshin Bank. The family has gained wealth and power through family connections in Kansai’s business circles. When Daisuke obtains information from his eldest daughter Ichiko’s husband Mima Ataru, who is an elite Ministry of Finance official, that the move to restructure the city’s banks is gathering momentum, he plots a merger with a major bank to ensure Hanshin Bank survives. The Manpyo family includes Daisuke’s wife Yasuko; eldest son Teppei, who is the senior managing director of Hanshin Steelworks; second son Ginpei who works at Hanshin Bank; second daughter Fujiko and third daughter Mitsuko and long-