Jung Young-chae, CEO of NH Investment & Securities, "Not Attached to Position... Will Fully Take Responsibility for Recovering Customer Losses"

Jung Young-chae, CEO of NH Investment & Securities

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Boryeong] Jung Young-chae, CEO of NH Investment & Securities, expressed his commitment to taking responsibility for restoring customer damages related to the Optimus fund incident. He also stated his willingness to step down if the responsibility of the sales company is established.

On the 2nd, after the SK Biopharm listing ceremony held at the Korea Exchange in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, Jung said to reporters, "I can only apologize to the customers."

Since June last year, NH Investment & Securities sold approximately 630 billion KRW worth of Optimus-related products, recording the highest sales among securities firms. Of this, 200 billion KRW has been repaid normally, and 430 billion KRW remains outstanding. After the redemption suspension incident, NH Investment & Securities formed a task force (TF) and reported Optimus Asset Management to the prosecution on charges including fraud.

Regarding the responsibility as a sales company, CEO Jung explained, "There are both moral and legal aspects, and since no internal decision has been made yet, it is difficult to make a definitive statement. We are continuously reaching consensus internally, so please wait a little longer."

He also expressed regret over the occurrence of this incident. Jung said, "Our principle was not to sell products from asset managers who do not provide monthly operating balance details. Since we could not directly receive statements from the private fund custodian company, we took the asset manager to obtain the balance, but it was recorded as accounts receivable." He added, "Legally, I think we did our best, but since our customers suffered losses, I regret that if we had been more thorough, this would not have happened."

CEO Jung conveyed that he might step down if the sales company is found responsible for this incident. He emphasized, "I have worked for 32 years, so I am not attached to my position. Someone asked if I personally feel responsible; personally, it would be easier to take responsibility and resign, but since that would not be desirable for customers or the organization, I believe doing what needs to be done is the priority."

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