Central News Agency (CNA Taipei, July 2) The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) announced today that a former employee of CTBC Bank embezzled approximately NT$2.97 million in ATM clearing funds and financial clearing funds over a period of about 10 months. The FSC has fined the bank NT$4 million for failing to establish and effectively implement internal control systems. CTBC Bank stated that the case was discovered during an internal audit of an employee's unusual behavior. The bank immediately self-reported the issue, strengthened measures to address the deficiencies, and disciplined the employee involved. The company respects and will humbly review the regulatory authority's penalty decision, and will continue to review and improve. Chang Chia-kui, deputy director of the Banking Bureau at the FSC, explained that the incident began in mid-August last year when a former employee, identified as Mr. Liao, from CTBC Bank's retail banking centralized operations department, was covering for a colleague on leave. Upon the colleague's return, an account anomaly was discovered. A comprehensive investigation by the bank revealed that from November 2024 to August 2025, Mr. Liao embezzled NT$500,000 in ATM clearing funds and NT$2.46 million in financial clearing funds, totaling approximately NT$2.97 million over about 10 months. The incident was reported as a major unusual event. Chang Chia-kui clarified that ATM and financial clearing funds typically arise from system anomalies or power outages during customer transactions, leading to discrepancies between the amounts recorded in customer accounts and the actual transaction amounts, or errors during ATM cash loading. Such differences are categorized as clearing funds and are returned to customers once the cause is identified. This case primarily involves two deficiencies. First, the internal control system was not adequately established. Chang Chia-kui pointed out that Mr. Liao embezzled clearing funds that had been outs