K Bank said on Monday it has set up a Consumer Protection Committee, an independent subcommittee within its board, to strengthen consumer protection.

K Bank said a regular shareholders meeting and board meeting held on Monday approved agenda items to establish and operate the Consumer Protection Committee.

The committee was created to have the board directly manage and supervise consumer protection beyond complaint handling or compliance checks. This will enable a more systematic response to consumer issues arising in non-face-to-face digital finance environments.

K Bank is the first internet-only bank to set up a Consumer Protection Committee as an independent subcommittee within its board.

As a board subcommittee, the Consumer Protection Committee will review and vote on major consumer protection policies and internal control systems.

Key agenda items include the basic policy for establishing and operating an internal control system for financial consumer protection, changes to systems related to financial consumer protection, enactment and revision of consumer protection standards and internal control standards, and policies and management systems related to consumer protection.

The committee also plans to regularly receive reports on consumer protection operations and major issues, and to inspect them.

K Bank said it will proactively manage consumer protection-related risks through the new committee and reflect consumer perspectives in the process of improving products and services.

A K Bank official said, "By establishing the Consumer Protection Committee, we have strengthened consumer protection as an area managed at the board level," adding, "We will continue to refine a consumer protection system suited to the digital finance environment."