Kim Mi-young, Deputy Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, "Strengthening Inspection of Financial Companies' Consumer Protection Systems"

Establishing Voice Phishing Reduction Indicators... Full-Scale Response to Minsaeng Financial Crimes
Financial Companies CCO Meeting

Kim Mi-young, Director of the Financial Consumer Protection Department (Deputy Governor) at the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), announced on the 8th that she will focus on establishing a 'consumer-centric' culture across all financial company operations, including strengthening the inspection of consumer protection systems.

On the morning of the same day, Deputy Governor Kim held a meeting with Chief Consumer Protection Officers (CCOs) from various financial companies such as banks, savings banks, insurance companies, securities firms, and card companies at the FSS, stating, "Consumer protection has not yet become ingrained in the organizational culture of each financial company."

The FSS selected five key focus areas: ▲ strengthening the inspection of the practical operation of consumer protection systems ▲ full-scale response to livelihood financial crimes such as illegal private loans ▲ enhancing preventive activities to reduce financial disputes ▲ strengthening consumer protection in response to digital transformation ▲ improving financial consumer capabilities and supporting rational financial life.

Regarding financial companies' consumer protection systems, Deputy Governor Kim said, "Although the duty to explain has been significantly strengthened, there are criticisms that it is being used as a means for financial companies to exempt themselves from responsibility," and added, "We will promote institutional improvements to create a consumer-friendly explanation environment together with the Financial Services Commission and the industry."

To this end, she explained that during consumer protection performance evaluations, they will focus on checking whether the consumer protection devices necessary for compliance with the Financial Consumer Protection Act are functioning properly and induce improvements. Deputy Governor Kim stated, "The explanation duty under the Financial Consumer Protection Act focuses more on obtaining 'signatures' rather than the consumer's understanding," and added, "We will create a consumer-friendly product explanation environment." She also mentioned that the Consumer Protection Department will timely share complaint and sales analysis information to reflect it in supervision and inspection tasks, and jointly conduct board or executive interviews and on-site inspections related to consumer protection.

The FSS plans to also fully respond to livelihood financial crimes targeting vulnerable groups. To this end, it will operate a 'Special Eradication Period for Illegal Private Loans' until October this year and establish a 'Virtual Asset-Linked Investment Fraud Reporting Center' to strictly respond to coin-related investment fraud. Additionally, it plans to prepare an 'indicator' to evaluate financial companies' voluntary efforts to reduce voice phishing.

Deputy Governor Kim also announced plans to strengthen consumer protection related to digital transformation. She intends to examine whether deposit and loan brokerage platforms meet algorithm requirements that align with consumer interests and whether their terms of use are appropriately drafted. Furthermore, she plans to enhance preventive measures to reduce financial disputes, select best practices, post them on the FSS website, and encourage financial companies to develop win-win financial products.

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