The nation’s financial regulator is poised to reprimand Citibank Korea for having been negligent in consumer protection.
Officials at the Financial Services Commission are fine-tuning the draft on a sanction against the local unit of U.S.-based Citigroup, which was created by the Financial Supervisory Service.
The FSS, an executive arm of the FSC, has already decided to issue a “cautionary warning” on Citibank Korea CEO Ha Yung-ku and an “institutional warning” on the commercial lender.
Consumers suffered damages due to “irregular” terms in sales of the bank’s financial products, including loans, FSS officials said.
Based on the provisional sanction from the FSS, the FSC is set to finalize details including the amount of fines on the bank by holding a panel discussion later this month.
A Citibank Korea official claimed that the bank applied for legitimate terms for trading with customers.
“It seems that there could be contradictory interpretation over the rules,” he said.
By Kim Yon-se (
kys@heraldcorp.com)
