Ma: Fubon-Taipei Banks Merger a Paradigm, Not a Scandal

Ma: Fubon-Taipei Banks Merger a Paradigm, Not a Scandal

Source: United Daily News
December 22, 2011

During a weekly Kuomintang (KMT) Central Standing Committee meeting held on Wednesday in Dali District, Taichung City, instead of the usual Taipei, KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) reiterated that “the bank merger deal between Taipei Bank (台北銀行) and Fubon Bank (富邦銀行) was a paradigm, not a scandal.” Ma went on to say that after the 2002 merger, Lin Chuan (林全), then Finance Minister, and his deputy Susan Chang (張秀蓮) under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, had publically praised the deal, and so had foreign businesses in Taiwan. “Watching the DPP launch an all-out assault on the bank merger as if it were a scandal, we know that the DPP has used up all its cards,” Ma noted.
 
Unhappy with DPP lawmakers’ allegations that Fubon had made political contributions to Ma for his election campaign and their allegations of an “insider deal” at the time of the merger, Fubon Financial Holding Co. issued a statement this afternoon to rebut the allegations, stressing that the smearing accusations had damaged its corporate image. In the statement, Fubon also indicated that it was a patent falsehood that Fubon was the smaller partner swallowing up a larger Taipei Bank, calling it a completely groundless allegation because Fubon had surpassed Taipei Bank in terms of both market value and net worth. In addition, Fubon asserted that it had acquired Taipei Bank by making the most advantageous and highest priced bid, not some backroom operation, and the company retained the right to take legal recourse.

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