IBK China Subsidiary Faces 80 Billion Won Loss

The China subsidiary of Industrial Bank of Korea suffered an estimated 80 billion won loss ($61.53 million) due to a series of fraudulent activities involving a non-bank financial institution named Company B. The bank's lax internal control system and lack of preventive measures were blamed for the damage. Company B, the online loan platform, manipulated repayment accounts, misappropriated funds, and falsely reported completed repayments to borrowers.

This led to borrowers being wrongly classified as non-repayers, causing debt collection issues and credit rating drops. Industrial Bank of Korea only became aware of the problem in June 24 after a surge in un-deposited settlement funds and borrower complaints. The bank's failure to detect the misappropriation over a six-month period and its inability to identify warning signals from other financial institutions in China raised questions about its internal controls.

Despite warnings from five other Chinese institutions, the Industrial Bank of Korea proceeded with transactions and only acknowledged the accident scale of 83.37 billion won on July 15. The remediation process has been criticized as inadequate, as the bank has not yet determined the exact expected loss and recovery amounts, citing ongoing investigations by local authorities.

The Financial Supervisory Service's response has also been scrutinized, with criticism that it took only basic measures such as internal reporting and case dissemination, without conducting on-site inspections or verifying Industrial Bank of Korea officials.