Taiwan's financial regulator has given its preliminary approval to CTBC Financial Holdings' acquisitions of Tokyo Star Bank and Taiwan Life Insurance, local media reported on Tuesday.

The deals were announced in October but approval had been put on hold after CTBC, Taiwan's top credit card issuer, was found to have failed to followed its own internal protocols with bank managers hiding control of a China-based company from board members, the Economic Daily and the Commercial Times reported.

The Financial Supervisory Commission fined CTBC NT$10 million ($330,000) and temporarily restricted it from setting up overseas units, the reports said.

Representatives for CTBC and the financial regulator were not immediately available to comment.

CTBC had said it was planning to buy the Japanese bank for 52 billion yen ($510 million) and take over Taiwan Life in an all stock deal.