Tsai Chen-yu, a member of Taiwan’s billionaire Tsai family and son of the founder of Cathay Financial Holding Co., was involved in a physical altercation with Kuo Ming-jian, the chairman of Cathay United Bank Co., on Tuesday. This incident, which reportedly required law enforcement involvement in Taipei, has brought to light a significant dispute over corporate governance within the family's financial empire.
Following the altercation, Tsai Chen-yu, speaking as a shareholder and a member of the founding family, issued a statement on Wednesday. He urged Cathay Financial Holdings to rectify what he perceives as "deviations" by its senior management, expressing concern for the company's shareholders and clients. He criticized Chairman Kuo Ming-jian for holding multiple external directorships, including roles at Hong Kong-based Far East Horizon and Shun Cheong Holdings, questioning the due diligence on these companies and whether such extensive outside commitments undermine his focus on Cathay United Bank's stability and its $5.4 trillion in assets by March this year.
Tsai also raised concerns about the oversight by Cathay Financial Holding's two independent directors, Wang Li-ling and Wu Tang-chieh. He highlighted their backgrounds in financial regulation and corporate governance, questioning why they seemingly overlooked Kuo Ming-jian's numerous external positions and Cathay Securities Investment Trust's failure to effectively manage its list of interested parties. This failure resulted in the need to re-liquidate eight funds earlier this year, leading to $450 million in losses after Kuo Ming-jian failed to declare his directorship at GUC (Global Unichip Corp.) in May of last year, violating regulations that prohibit trading by interested parties. Tsai implied that potential leniency from the Financial Supervisory Commission might occur due to the independent directors' past affiliations with the commission.
