The 13 staff members were arrested on suspicion of 'corruption in relation to applications for machinery hire-purchase loans,' the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said in a statement.

The investigation started after complaints that bank staff may have accepted 'advantages' from a number of machine dealers and loan applicants, the statement said, without specifying what the advantages may have included.

'In return, the arrested bank employees were alleged to have facilitated the loan applications submitted by those applicants and machine dealers for the purchase of various machines,' the statement said.

'The bank employees were also alleged to have corruptly connived at falsifying loan supporting documents, including quotations, sale and purchase documents and invoices of those machines.'

The arrests of 10 marketing staff and three credit officers were made in November last year following an operation codenamed 'Invisible Fist", the statement said.

Fubon spokesman Betty Chan said the fraud had taken place at Fubon Bank Credit, a wholly-ownded subsidiary dealing in loans and hire-purchase arrangements.

Those arrested have been released on bail and the investigation is ongoing, the ICAC said.

Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) is a subsidiary of Fubon Financial Holding, one of the top financial services groups in Taiwan. -- AFP