Financial Supervisory Service to Prepare 1.6 Trillion Won Lime Fund Redemption Plan Next Month

[Asia Economy Reporter Koh Hyung-kwang] Financial authorities have decided to establish a concrete redemption and management plan by next month regarding Lime Asset Management's funds involved in the 1.6 trillion won-scale redemption suspension incident. For funds confirmed to have been sold incompletely, dispute mediation will be promptly pursued, and strict sanctions will be imposed on illegal activities, with investigations referred to the prosecution if necessary.

On the 14th, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced, "Based on the results of due diligence, we plan to prepare a concrete redemption and management plan by next month to maximize the recovery of redeemed fund assets and to promptly resume redemptions."

The redemption and management plan will be communicated to fund beneficiaries after Lime’s board resolution and discussions with sales companies, and the progress will be regularly (monthly or quarterly) notified to the fund beneficiaries.

Regarding the trade finance fund (related to IIG), where a significant portion of illegal activities was confirmed through inspection, dispute mediation will be swiftly pursued.

By May, internal and external legal advice will be sought to review victim relief measures, and the Financial Dispute Mediation Committee will be convened to make a mediation decision within the first half of this year. To this end, the FSS’s Dispute Mediation Division 2, Civil Complaints and Dispute Investigation Office, and regional inspection offices will form a joint on-site investigation team to begin fact-finding early next month.

For funds other than the trade finance fund, the plan is to verify facts as soon as possible to minimize market confusion.

If violations are confirmed based on the results of on-site civil complaint investigations, additional inspections of the fund sales companies will be conducted. However, in cases where Lime funds were sold on a large scale at specific branches, on-site inspections will be prioritized considering the special circumstances.

Earlier, the FSS dispatched two resident inspectors to Lime Asset Management to closely monitor the implementation of the redemption and management plan and the proper execution of internal control tasks.

Lime Asset Management also newly appointed a professional manager to oversee redemption and management tasks and a compliance officer to strengthen internal controls, based on recommendations from sales companies and others.

Investigations into unfair trading are also underway. Close monitoring is being conducted regarding suspicions of unfair trading in invested stocks, and if any suspicious points are found, investigations will be promptly initiated. "For matters where fact-finding is difficult due to limitations of inspection and investigation authority, strict measures will be taken in cooperation with investigative agencies such as the prosecution," the statement added.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.