[Digital Today reporter Sangyeop Oh (오상엽)] South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service has begun directly surveying investors who took part in a SpaceX initial public offering subscription through Mirae Asset Securities. As the regulator intensifies its inquiry by checking the affiliation and name of private bankers (PB) who contacted customers and the process of recommending subscriptions, Mirae Asset's labour union is pushing back, calling it an excessive investigation method.

On Sept. 17, the financial investment industry said the FSS' Financial Investment Inspection Bureau 1 sent a request for cooperation in a survey on SpaceX subscription non-allocation to individual and corporate professional investors who participated through Mirae Asset Securities. The survey runs until Oct. 2.

Through the survey, the FSS plans to examine whether the professional investor registration process, subscription procedures and measures to recover customer losses after non-allocation were carried out appropriately from an investor protection perspective.

The survey focuses on how PBs contacted customers. It asks respondents to write the branch and name of the Mirae Asset Securities employee who informed them about the domestic subscription, and checks whether the employee provided the subscription schedule and method, professional investor registration requirements, and the possibility that shares might not be allocated after subscription.

It also examines how employees delivered subscription information to investors. It verifies the contact channel by dividing it into the firm's phone line, employees' personal mobile phones, messengers such as KakaoTalk, and text messages (SMS).

The FSS has continued its inspection of Mirae Asset Securities since June over the SpaceX IPO subscription process.

Mirae Asset Securities is understood to have accepted SpaceX subscriptions worth a total of $1.15 billion (about 1.8 trillion won) from domestic individual and corporate professional investors from June 5 to 10, and to have received deposits of about $825 million (about 1.3 trillion won).

But on June 12, when SpaceX listed, Mirae Asset Securities did not receive an allocation of the underwriting amount. The subscription deposits were later fully refunded.

The FSS conducted an inspection for about 40 days from June 5, when subscriptions began, to July 16. It then resumed in-person questioning of relevant employees at Mirae Asset Securities' headquarters from Sept. 14.

About 150 employees at branches nationwide who directly contacted customers in the SpaceX IPO process were also included in the probe. Including those questioned in writing and by phone, the number of employees covered is reported to be higher.

As the inspection has dragged on, Mirae Asset Securities' union has publicly begun to protest.

In a statement on Sept. 16, the union said it had strong concerns about the Financial Supervisory Service's long-term, high-intensity investigation and excessive investigation methods.

It said the earlier roughly 40-day inspection caused disruptions to normal work, including delays to some office relocation schedules that had been planned from Yeouido to Center1.

In this probe, it noted, about 150 branch employees nationwide have been summoned to Seoul, leading to situations where they cancel appointments with customers and leave sales sites unattended.

The union said it respects legitimate supervision but the supervisory authority cannot stand above employees' basic rights. It said the FSS has an obligation to ease the burden on those being inspected during the process and to ensure the rights and interests of financial institutions and their employees are not unjustly infringed.

It also plans a legal review of whether there were excessive summons of employees or demands for personal information. If it confirms potential violations of basic rights or privacy, it is also considering filing a petition with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and raising the issue with the Financial Services Commission, the Board of Audit and Inspection, and the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee.

The FSS plans to continue its inspection focusing on whether professional investor registration and subscription recommendations were carried out appropriately in the SpaceX subscription process and whether investors were sufficiently informed about the possibility of non-allocation.

Mirae Asset Securities is also reviewing measures to restore trust, including financial compensation, after fully returning the subscription deposits.