CTBC Financial Holding’s bid to acquire smaller peer Shin Kong, which aimed to create Taiwan’s largest financial conglomerate and a regional competitor to firms like Hong Kong’s Standard Chartered Bank, Japan’s Nomura Holdings and Singapore’s United Overseas Bank, came to a sudden halt in September. The island’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) rejected the hostile takeover, stating that the plan lacked details, would lead to volatility in the firms’ share prices and, ultimately,