Seoul to tighten scrutiny over major shareholders of financial firms

2018.03.16 13:05:04 | 2018.03.16 13:11:41

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South Korea¡¯s top financial regulator will tighten supervision over major shareholders of financial firms, a move in line with President Moon Jae-in¡¯s pledge to reform Korea¡¯s huge family-run conglomerates.

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said on Thursday it will expand the scope of eligibility scrutiny on major shareholders of financial firms.

The current law only reviews the largest shareholder but the new measure would broaden the scope to include other majority individual shareholders who can wield power over management affairs.

The revision is expected to affect some of the country¡¯s major corporate giants with financial units, including Samsung, Hanwha and Lotte. Samsung Group operates a number of financial businesses ranging from credit card and insurance to securities and asset management. In the case of Samsung Life Insurance, the new rules would apply not only to Chairman Lee Kun-hee, the largest shareholder with a 20.76 percent stake, but also his son Jay Y. Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics with a 0.06 percent interest.

¡°The measure is not to target a specific individual or company,¡± said a FSC official. ¡°It is a preemptive mechanism to ensure corporate governance and transparency of all financial firms.¡±

The assessment standards have also been toughened to include breach of duty on top of tax evasion and violation of financial codes and fair trade rules.

By Lee Seung-yoon and Kim Hyo-jin

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