| Woori Bank headquarters in Seoul / Yonhap |
By Lee Min-hyung
An employee at Woori Bank embezzled corporate capital worth $70,000 (90 million won) for crypto investment. This could further taint Woori's corporate image after another official from the lender engaged in a similar crime embezzling 70 billion won last year through multiple thefts. The recent crime is the largest in scale for a single amount embezzled.
The employee who worked at one of Woori's sales offices is known to have embezzled the capital for his personal crypto investment.
“We retrieved all of the embezzled money and started a disciplinary procedure against the employee,” a spokesman at the bank said.
Last year, the Financial Supervisory Service launched a probe into the bank and took issue with the lender's poor internal control system. In response, Woori pledged to toughen the system, so as to prevent a recurrence of such incidents.
Nevertheless, with the increase in the frequency of similar scandals, Woori cannot evade criticism for the ineffective operation of its internal inspection team.
Woori Bank CEO Cho Byung-kyu, who took office on July 3, established an “inspection division” to strengthen its internal controls.