Special Deposit 'Fishing' to Be Stopped... Interest Information and Winning Probability Must Be Specified

From now on, when financial institutions promote deposit products, they must display the 'basic interest rate' along with the highest interest rate that financial consumers can receive. Additionally, for deposit products that offer preferential interest rates through new methods such as lotteries, detailed information including the probability of winning must also be provided.

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On the 14th, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service announced guidelines on compliance requirements for advertisements related to interest rates of deposit products such as special term deposits. This is a follow-up measure to the financial consumer advisory issued last April, prepared through on-site inspections of some banks and consultations with the banking and savings bank sectors.

Financial institutions must provide consumers with information on both the highest interest rate and the basic interest rate when advertising deposit products. This is to prevent consumers from unknowingly entering into financial product contracts under the impression that they will receive the highest interest rate, even though they may only qualify for the basic interest rate due to not meeting stringent preferential interest rate conditions.

Accordingly, financial product sellers must display the basic interest rate alongside the highest interest rate when emphasizing the highest interest rate in advertisements for deposit products. The highest and basic interest rates should be presented in a balanced manner in terms of advertisement placement, font size, weight, and color so that consumers can easily recognize the range of interest rates.

Furthermore, the conditions for receiving preferential interest rates must be clearly stated not only in the explanatory documents provided upon contract but also in advertisements. In cases where preferential interest rates are applied through new methods such as lotteries, sufficient information that allows financial consumers to make reasonable judgments, including the probability of winning, must be provided.

Information about the interest received at the maturity of deposit products must also be sufficiently provided. Financial product sellers should voluntarily provide ample information regarding the interest to be received based on the product structure, including payment amount, contract period, and applicable interest rate.

The Financial Services Commission stated, “This improvement plan will be voluntarily implemented first by banks, savings banks, and credit unions after preparation, and necessary matters will be reflected in future revisions of financial advertising regulation guidelines through industry consultations.”

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