Eight financial companies were penalized with fines for violating the 'Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act' by paying retirement benefits to the company's account instead of the subscriber's account or failing to meet the retirement benefit payment deadlines.
According to financial authorities on the 21st, the Financial Supervisory Service recently imposed a total of 447.8 million won in fines on four banks—KB Kookmin, Woori, NongHyup, and Hana—and three insurance companies—Hanwha Life Insurance, Kyobo Life Insurance, and Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance—and one securities firm, Hyundai Securities.
By financial institution, the fines amounted to 135.4 million won for KB Kookmin Bank, 50 million won for Woori Bank, 42.6 million won for NongHyup Bank, 150 million won for Hana Bank, 3 million won for Hanwha Life Insurance, 3 million won for Kyobo Life Insurance, 13.8 million won for Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, and 5 million won for Hyundai Securities.
KB Kookmin Bank, Woori Bank, NongHyup Bank, Hana Bank, Hanwha Life Insurance, and Kyobo Life Insurance were found to have paid retirement benefits to the employer's account instead of to the subscriber (employee) account, contrary to the terms of their management contracts. Woori Bank paid approximately 998 million won in retirement pension savings to the employer's account for 194 subscribers.
There were also many instances of delayed retirement benefit payments. KB Kookmin Bank failed to pay retirement benefits to 85 subscribers of defined contribution (DC) pension plans within the payment deadline (including the date of notice received) between January 2020 and September 2023. Hana Bank also did not adhere to the DC pension payment deadline, which is within three business days, delaying payments to a total of 543 subscribers from January 2020 to November 2023.