South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service has lowered penalties on 5 banks that sold equity-linked securities (ELS) tied to the Hong Kong H-index to about 600 billion won. The outcome will be finalized after a resolution by the Financial Services Commission.
The financial sector said on Wednesday that the watchdog held an extraordinary sanctions review meeting and decided on a plan to impose combined penalties worth about 600 billion won on 5 banks: KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Hana Bank, NH Nonghyup Bank and SC First Bank.
The amount is more than half below the sanctions plan worth about 1.4 trillion won that the watchdog previously submitted to the Financial Services Commission.
Additional deliberations were held after the commission sent the case back to the watchdog last month, asking it to supplement some factual findings, applicable laws and regulations, and legal reasoning.
It was reported that the sanctions review lowered the banks' violation motive and method to "low" from "medium", adjusting the base penalty rate.
Ji-young Lee
ljy@d-today.co.kr