5 Major Financial Groups, Executives Donate Emergency Disaster Relief Funds... Controversy Over Coercion (Comprehensive)

On the 14th, when the emergency disaster relief fund application was underway, a notice informing the use of the relief fund was posted at a store located in Namdaemun Market, Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] The five major financial groups have agreed to participate in the government's emergency disaster relief fund donation.

According to the financial sector on the 14th, the executives of Hana Financial Group voluntarily decided to join the government's disaster relief fund donation.

The day before, executives of Shinhan Financial and Woori Financial also decided to join the voluntary donation movement for the disaster relief fund. Shinhan Financial will have all executives at the head office level and above, about 250 people, participate voluntarily in the disaster relief fund donation as a group. For employees below the department head level, a healthy culture of donation participation will be fostered to allow voluntary participation.

Woori Financial announced that it decided to participate in the voluntary donation of the disaster relief fund through unanimous consent at a group executive meeting. About 200 executives at the head office level and above from group companies are the target.

Earlier, on the 4th, NongHyup Financial also declared its donation of the disaster relief fund together with the NongHyup Central Association.

KB Financial decided to leave the donation of the disaster relief fund by executives to their own autonomous will. A KB Financial official said, "Executives sympathize with the purpose of voluntary donation and are expected to actively participate."

Some voices express concern that the 'voluntary donation' of the disaster relief fund might turn into a quasi-compulsory donation. While it is desirable to donate the disaster relief fund to overcome difficulties caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) together and fulfill corporate social responsibility, since the government decided to provide the fund to all citizens, it is argued that the usage of the support fund should be determined by the individual.

In some financial companies, controversy arose because consent from all employees was not obtained before announcing the disaster relief fund donation.

The disaster relief fund donation is expected to spread throughout the entire financial sector. The day before, BNK Financial, a regional financial company, also announced that about 100 executives from its affiliates such as Busan Bank and Kyongnam Bank will donate, and earlier, Meritz Financial and Welcome Financial also announced that their employees will voluntarily participate in the disaster relief fund donation.

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