Finance

FSS chief Lee Chan-jin warns banks on CEO appointments and fierce municipal treasury bids

Lee Chan-jin (이찬진), governor of South Korea\'s Financial Supervisory Service, told bank holding company chairmen to ensure fairness in appointing subsidiary chief executives and raised concerns about excessive competition in municipal treasury bids. He urged banks to pick candidates based on capability, set clearer succession standards and ensure nomination committees play a substantive role. He also called for stronger internal controls to prevent financial incidents and said the watchdog will review underlying incentives if violations occur.

Finance

Korean banks received 2.68 million rate-cut requests in first half, up 77 percent

South Korea\'s banking sector received 2,679,000 requests in the first half of 2026 for loan rate cuts, up 77.0 percent from the previous half, as a mydata-business-based service began. Banks accepted 512,000 cases, up 22.5 percent, but the acceptance rate fell to 19.1 percent from 27.6 percent. Total interest reductions reached 73.43 billion won, up 0.8 percent.