[2021 National Assembly Audit] "Banks Increase Cash Dividends While Social Contributions Remain Stagnant"

Assemblyman Yoon Kwan-seok: "We Must Lead in Strengthening ESG Management and Social Responsibility"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] As banks increase cash dividends, there are criticisms that social contributions remain stagnant.

On the 17th, according to the 'Recent 5-Year Bank Social Contribution Amounts and Operating Profit Cash Dividend Status' submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to Yoon Kwan-seok, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, the cash dividend ratio of 17 domestic banks has steadily increased to about one-third of operating profit, while social contribution amounts have remained at around 5-6%.

Over the past four years, the total cash dividends of banks amounted to 21.6887 trillion KRW, and the annual 'cash dividend ratio to operating profit' was 4.0043 trillion KRW (26.66%) in 2017, 5.4795 trillion KRW (29.10%) in 2018, 6.5394 trillion KRW (32.96%) in 2019, and 5.6655 trillion KRW (33.38%) in 2020. In contrast, the total social contribution amount of the 17 banks over the past four years was 3.935 trillion KRW, with annual social contribution amounts relative to operating profit being 735.7 billion KRW (4.9%) in 2017, 983.9 billion KRW (5.22%) in 2018, 1.1289 trillion KRW (5.69%) in 2019, and 1.0865 trillion KRW (6.4%) in 2020.

The cash dividend ratio of the 17 banks increased by a total of 6.72 percentage points from 26.66% in 2017 to 33.38% in 2020, but the social contribution amount ratio only increased by 1.5 percentage points from 4.5% to 6.4% during the same period.

Assemblyman Yoon Kwan-seok said, "Although banks expanded cash dividends based on strong performance, social contributions appear to have remained at a maintenance level," adding, "Since the public greatly contributes to the profit generation of commercial banks, banks also need to lead social contribution activities under the spirit of social responsibility in finance."

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