Chairperson Lee Eog-weon said the financial authorities are reviewing whether the interest rate levels and repayment methods of Coupang's loan product, "Coupang Seller Growth Loan," are appropriate.
Lee answered this way to a related question from Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Hyeon-jeong at the hearing on the 30th titled "Hearing to identify the facts of Coupang's breach incident, personal information leak, unfair transaction, and labor environment and to prepare measures to prevent a recurrence."
Coupang Seller Growth Loan, under which Coupang lends business funds to sellers on its marketplace, is a loan product of Coupang Financial, with an annual interest rate of 8.9–18.9%. Lawmaker Kim said there is a possibility of illegal sales practices such as "bundling," in which Coupang makes sellers increase delivery volumes on the condition that they use the company's high-interest loan product, and said a comprehensive fact-finding investigation is needed.
In response, Lee said, "Right now the Financial Supervisory Service is conducting an on-site inspection at Coupang Financial," and added, "As you noted, we are examining everything, including whether the lending rate is appropriate, whether the repayment method is appropriate, and whether the loan advertising is appropriate."
Regarding the view that, because the "one ID" policy automatically enrolls users in Coupang Pay when they sign up for Coupang, the authorities should also look into Coupang's headquarters in addition to Coupang Pay, which is already under on-site inspection by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Lee said, "In consultation with the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) so that we can look at not only Coupang Pay but also Coupang's headquarters, the FSS has also decided to join the public-private joint investigation team on Coupang starting on the 26th."
Regarding the criticism that Coupang Pay is not properly managing user status information, including the number of cancellations, Lee said, "There is an obligation to retain electronic financial transaction records for five years. We will closely examine in the on-site inspection whether there has been any violation of the retention obligation."