IBK chief's leadership put to test by fraud accidents, relocation row

Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) CEO Chang Min-young is facing a critical challenge as the bank grapples with a series of fraud cases and rising disputes with its workers' union over a potential relocation. According to documents provided by Representative Shin Dong-wook of the People Power Party to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and IBK, the state-owned lender failed to promptly identify a real estate loan fraud case from the previous year, despite receiving a police search warrant outlining the alleged scheme.

On September 24, 2025, the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency presented IBK with a search warrant and a request for cooperation. The warrant revealed that a real estate developer and brokers had allegedly used falsified sales contracts and down-payment records to secure 965 million won ($722,000) in loans from the bank. IBK acknowledged the warrant but did not initially recognize the case as financial fraud.

It was only on October 2, after the Financial Supervisory Service asked the bank to verify the police investigation, that IBK classified the matter as fraudulent. Even after reporting the fraud to the regulators, IBK proceeded to lend an additional 1.9 billion won.