Taiwan FSC opens VASP consultation and fines CTBC Capital Securities NT$600,000

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on 6 November opened public comment on eight draft virtual asset service provider (VASP) rules and fined CTBC Capital Securities Co. NT$600,000. The FSC’s daily release gives Securities and Futures Bureau letter No. 1150385338 a comment period from 6 November to 16 December 2026. It records the CTBC disposition on the same date.

For compliance teams, the VASP measures are proposals rather than final rules. They would establish the framework for VASP establishment, responsible and business personnel, business management, internal control and audit, outsourcing, suspicious or abnormal accounts and transactions, financial reporting, and the VASP industry association. The immediate action is to assess the drafts and submit any response before 16 December.

The proposed VASP framework

The eight instruments are the establishment measures; responsible persons and business personnel management rules; VASP management measures; internal control and internal audit rules; outsourcing measures; virtual asset account and suspected illegal or obviously abnormal transaction measures; financial reporting and filing measures; and industry association management rules.

The package follows the FSC’s 20 October amendments to virtual-asset anti-money laundering rules. Those amendments require the Travel Rule for virtual-asset transfers of any value and require additional information and checks for transfers above NT$30,000. The draft package extends the regulatory work into governance, financial reporting, outsourcing and transaction controls.

What the FSC found at CTBC

The FSC’s Inspection Bureau conducted a general business examination of CTBC Capital Securities from 26 May to 11 June 2026. It found that the securities firm:

- accepted securities trades from agents who were neither the principal nor authorised by a client power of attorney;
- failed to disclose investment risks when handling purchases of overseas bonds rated below BBB;
- accepted non-professional investors’ purchases of bonds whose issuers had long-term debt ratings below A-;
- handled loss-absorbing-capacity bonds, inverse exchange-traded funds with leverage above 1x, and foreign virtual-asset ETFs; and
- failed to assess and control the risks of outsourced matters.

The FSC imposed the NT$600,000 fine under Article 178-1(1)(4) of the Securities and Exchange Act, together with Articles 2(2) and 37(13) of the Regulations Governing Securities Firms. The disposition is a securities-firm enforcement action under existing rules, not a penalty under the proposed VASP framework.

The decision follows a 4 November FSC fine of NT$900,000 against Capital Securities over securities-law breaches. Atlas reads the two actions as a recent focus on product eligibility, customer authority, risk disclosure and outsourced-control failures at securities firms handling investment products.

The VASP draft comment period ends on 16 December 2026.