TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The state-owned Bank of Taiwan (BOT) on Tuesday (July 26) was slapped with a heavy fine of NT$14 million (US$467,425) over an employee embezzlement case that resulted in tremendous losses for some of its clients.

Chang (張), a former financial consultant at the bank’s Suao branch, was found to have skimmed NT$84.47 million from nine of his clients between August 2012 and February 2022 through insurance and fund investment deals. The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said in a statement that Chang used fraud and forgery to embezzle the money. 

The supervisory body believes the lax oversight and a flawed BOT internal audit system were to blame. The embezzlement was not discovered until Chang failed to show up after being reassigned to another bank branch. 

Considering five of the victims were seniors over 65 and that the scheme involved a large amount of misappropriated funds over a long period of time, the FSC determined the bank must pay a hefty fine.

This is the fourth and largest cash penalty the FSC has levied on financial institutions due to scandals this year. The KGI Bank, Mega International Commercial Bank, and Hua Nan Commercial Bank have been fined NT$6 million, NT$4 million, and NT$4 million, respectively, per CNA.