Financial Disaster
In the aftermath of massive leaks of financial information, banks are reeling and executives are offering their resignations. But the smoke is starting to clear as financial authorities are acting quickly to bring the chaos under control.
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) and Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) are planning a disciplinary hearing at the end of this month to decide the course of action to be taken against bank executives. The financial authorities plan to bring in Standard Chartered Korea, Korea Citibank, KB Kookmin Card Co., Lotte Card Co., Nonghyup Bank’s card division, and the Korea Credit Bureau (KCB) to answer questions.
Meanwhile, the FSC and FSS have formed a 24-hour watchdog task force team to monitor the crisis.
Later this month, a resolution on private information gathering will be announced to monitor employees in and out of banking institutions, including those consigned, and to tighten the security of customer information via strict penalties.
Nevertheless, the repercussions of the accident have been felt throughout the banking industry. Public uproar continues, and consumers have been up in arms. The Financial Consumer Agency (FCA), a public consumer organization, said that it would ask the FSS for a public review of the incident. Cho Nam-hee of the FCA said, “Card companies that are responsible for the information leak must guide their customers in how to manage the amount of information that has been leaked.”