Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Chan-jin said on the 5th that regarding Coupang affiliate Coupang Financial lending to marketplace merchants at an annual interest rate of 19%, "We see that they are applying criteria for setting loan interest rates that are not convincing. We are moving to an inspection to scrutinize this part in detail." Meeting with reporters that day, Lee also said, "We judge this to be a situation similar to 'gapjil' in terms of business ethics."
On Coupang Pay, which handles Coupang's payment gateway (PG) operations, Lee said, "We do not yet see that payment information has been leaked," adding, "We are in the process of checking the information exchanged between Coupang and Coupang Pay." He continued, "Since distribution platforms are also a transaction area and thus related to finance, we believe they should be regulated at a level similar to financial companies. We will work from the authorities' position to improve related systems."
Regarding allegations of unfair transactions in the sale of shares by Coupang executives, Lee said, "We are looking into whether there was use of nonpublic information." If problems are confirmed, Lee plans to request cooperation from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On the National Pension Service's plan under review to recommend outside directors for financial holding companies, Lee said, "It is far from a debate over government control or socialism," adding, "Because the governance of financial holding companies that supply services to the entire public must be run transparently and fairly, we are considering the involvement of the public-interest National Pension Service."
Regarding the operation of the Financial Supervisory Service's special judicial police for consumer finance, which is being established, Lee said, "We are considering a plan for Commissioners of the Financial Services Commission and us to jointly decide whether to open an investigation into specific issues." He said, "It currently takes about 11 weeks just for the Financial Supervisory Service to complete an inquiry, report to the Financial Services Commission, and assess the need for an investigation. In the meantime, side effects such as destruction of evidence can occur, so we are considering this plan."
Lee also announced a plan to expand forensic (electronic device analysis) personnel for the joint response team to eradicate stock price manipulation, which is operated with the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Korea Exchange (KRX). He said, "We are creating two teams out of the single unit that is the joint response team. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is about to propose forming a separate forensic team." He added, "Because we have only one forensic specialist, it takes a week just to handle one case. We are proposing preparations to conduct forensics quickly."
On the designation of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) as a public institution, Lee argued, "It does not match global standards." He said, "The Financial Services Commission (FSC) already makes many decisions, such as on the FSS's budget size, so it is hard to accept creating an 'over-the-roof' system in which the Ministry of Economy and Finance intervenes again."