It has been revealed that the amounts of fines and penalties imposed on domestic commercial banks in foreign countries have increased by 180 times in just three years.
Based on the data obtained by Kim Jong-min, a member of the opposing Democratic Party, from the Financial Supervisory Service, fines and penalties imposed on the four major domestic banks in South Korea – KB, Shinhan, Hana, and Woori – by foreign authorities from 2019 to the end of September this year amounted to a total of 56.80 million won (US$41.89 million).
The figure, which was only 190 million won in 2020, increased to 2.31 billion won in 2021 and further rose to 13.24 billion won last year. In the current year, it has reached 34.39 billion won until September, marking an approximately 180-fold increase over the past three years.
The reasons for sanctions included negligence in anti-money-laundering efforts, inadequate handling of foreign currency payment guarantees, work-related errors, and insufficient internal controls.
When broken down by countries, South Korean banks primarily faced sanctions in the Asian region. In fact, the highest number of sanctions was received in Indonesia with 48 cases, followed by the Philippines with 22 cases, China with 19 cases, and Mexico with 15 cases.
In terms of the amount of sanctions, the United States had the highest total with 33.62 billion won. Although the United States had only one case of sanctions, it was revealed that it imposed the most substantial penalties due to deficiencies in anti-money laundering programs.
Following that, China accounted for 11.74 billion won, New Zealand for 8.93 billion won, the Philippines for 1.25 billion won, Mexico for 572 million won, and Indonesia for 128 million won, in descending order of the amounts of fines and penalties imposed.