South Korea\'s financial investment industry is bracing for a parliamentary audit that is expected to focus on investor protection and information security. Lawmakers are set to question regulators over the rollout and supervision of single-stock leveraged and inverse exchange-traded products after disclosures of retail losses. The expanding hacking incidents across financial institutions have also put securities firms\' security and internal control systems under scrutiny, alongside calls for tougher preventive inspections.

South Korea\'s financial sector faced a security emergency after a string of hacks and personal data leaks. Shinhan Bank had customer information for about 25,000 people leaked, while KB Kookmin Bank and Hana Bank confirmed leaks involving 119 and 89 customers. Regulators said related IP addresses linked to the same attacker were found across seven firms, with external-facing services used as attack routes. Authorities are investigating possible automated attacks using AI tools and ordered an industrywide security review.