Shinhan Bank is likely to face fines and penalties for illegally accessing its customer accounts, reports said Monday.
The Financial Supervisory Service will soon convene a meeting to decide possible disciplinary action against the bank after concluding a nearly four-month investigation into the bank, a source close to the matter told media.
Obtaining or accessing personal data without authorization is a criminal offence. The nation’s second-largest lender is believed to have checked the account balances and details of customers, including several former and current lawmakers, without their consent.
Shinhan Bank declined to comment on the issue, noting only that the investigation was still underway.
The news came as the regulators are stepping up efforts to crack down on illegalities in the financial sector following a massive-scale personal data theft.
The FSS has already imposed a three-month business suspension on credit card firms that are linked to the data breach scandal.
Shinhan’s illegal activity case was first filed with the regulator in October last year by Rep. Kim Ki-sik of the Democratic Party. The DP lawmaker then claimed that accounts of at least 22 high profile political and government figures were viewed illegally by the bank between April and September in 2010.
Reports suggest that the FSS had found some evidence that the lender had looked into the accounts of seven well-known figures, including former lawmaker Roh Hoe-chan.
The bank had reportedly looked into accounts of Roh, who was then the leader of the minor opposition Justice Party, about 10 times before and during the general election in June 2010.
The news also came amid fears of the bank’s slow growth. Shinhan Bank logged a net profit of 1.37 trillion won last year, down 17.4 percent from the previous year.
The bank’s net interest margin, a key gauge of profitability, was 1.76 percent as of the end of 2012, down from 1.99 percent a year ago.
By Oh Kyu-wook (
596story@heraldcorp.com)
