According to a recent report by the Korea Times, the Korean Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is increasing its focus on organizational culture as banks continue to suffer from repeated misconduct scandals.
Last month, Woori Bank was accused of offering $26 million in loans to companies owned by relatives of Son Tae-seung, former Chairman of Woori Financial Group. While the bank's loan management systems seem to be sound, these inappropriate loans were allegedly issued upon the direct instruction of senior executives. "Woori's actions have reached a point where trust is becoming difficult to maintain," FSS Governor Lee Bok-hyun said during a staff meeting last month.
Historically, regulators would require a bank involved in such a scandal to improve its internal controls and systems. However, this approach has not proven successful in preventing misconduct. "Discussions on developing organizational culture improvement measures are in the very early stages," an FSS official said. "Incorporating these measures into the management performance evaluation will also require finalizing the method for assessing organizational culture first, so it will take some time before the actual implementation."
Join The Discussion