| The Financial Supervisory Service's building 0n Yeouido, Seoul, left, and KEB Hana Bank's head branch in Eulji-ro, Seoul. / Korea Times file |
By Kim Bo-eun
The Financial Supervisory Service and KEB Hana Bank are in a conflict over the latter deleting documents related to the sales of derivative-linked funds (DLF) that caused huge losses for investors.
KEB Hana Bank was found to have deleted related data around the time the FSS stated its plans to conduct inspections of banks on Aug. 19.
The FSS confirmed Sunday it has conducted digital forensics to recover the lost data, but declined to provide details.
"Based on findings, if it is determined that the bank was involved in disrupting inspections, measures can be taken against those considered responsible, according to existing regulations," an FSS official said.
During the National Assembly's inspection of the FSS held last week, FSS Governor Yoon Suk-heun said the agency was looking into the matter and reviewing legal aspects. He said the agency would "take stern action" against the bank's conduct.
The data deletion was discovered after the FSS announced the results of its inspection on Oct. 1
Hana said it did not delete data on customers who invested in DLF options, but deleted "data for internal review."
Hana previously deleted data when authorities inspected banks over hiring irregularities. At the time the FSS restored the data on Hana Bank's cloud system.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly's National Policy Committee has called Hana Financial Group Vice Chairman Ham Young-joo for questioning in the ongoing parliamentary audit. Ham is set to attend on Oct. 21.
Hana is one of the two banks that sold DLF options, along with Woori Bank.
The FSS inspection showed Hana and Woori sold DLF options worth 795 billion won to 3,243 investors.
For options that matured on Oct. 10, the option sold by Woori saw a 73 percent loss and the option sold by Hana a 60 percent loss due to the fall in interest rates of underlying assets.
The inspection showed about 20 percent of the sold options had been involved in mis-selling.
In addition, the banks were found to have continued sales of the options despite the increasing likelihood that investors would see losses based on the drop in interest rates of underlying assets, such as German treasury bonds.