FSS Korea News

2025 Financial Complaints Up 10.4%, Counseling Up 6.4%

FSS Korea reported 128,419 financial complaints in 2025, a 10.4% increase (+12,081 cases) from the prior year, driven by securities firm IT outages (financial investment sector complaints up 65.4%) and continued growth in non-life insurance complaints (up 19.6%). Financial counseling reached 359,063 cases, up 6.4% (+21,715 cases), with illegal financing damage reports increasing by 20,218 cases following July 2025 enforcement of the revised Lending Business Act. Inheritance inquiries totalled 310,738 cases, up 4.8% (+14,328 cases), as government one-stop inheritance services drove sustained demand.

Consumer Protection Governance Spreads Across 77 Financial Companies

FSS Korea assessed 77 financial companies on their implementation of the Model Practices for Financial Consumer Protection Governance (introduced September 2025, assessed as of January 2026). The report documents improvements in six key areas: board-level oversight (direct reporting companies increased from 55 to 69; board committees increased from 2 to 15), consumer protection internal control committee operations, CCO authority expansion (64 companies granting exclusive pre-consent rights; companies guaranteeing 2+ year CCO terms increased from 29 to 51), departmental staffing (consumer protection staff ratio increased from 1.65% to 1.87% of total workforce), and performance compensation linkage to consumer protection indicators (increased from 43 to 57 companies).

FSS Korea C-Level Executive Meeting on Securities CP and IMA

The Financial Supervisory Service Korea held a C-level executive meeting on April 21, 2026 with 7 comprehensive financial investment operators from the operations and audit departments. The meeting addressed risk management related to securities-issued commercial paper and IMA operations, discussed strengthening investor protection, and explored the role of securities firms in leading productive finance initiatives.