The financial authorities are summoning bank and insurance company employees who sell foreign-currency products to urge them to refrain from marketing.
According to the financial sector on the 18th, the Financial Supervisory Service summoned senior executives of insurers selling dollar-denominated insurance on the 16th to review the status of dollar insurance sales. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) also plans to call in commercial bank employees on the 19th to deliver guidance to refrain from marketing dollar deposits.
Dollar insurance is a product in which premiums and benefits are paid and received in dollars. As the won-dollar exchange rate surged starting in Nov. last year, demand expecting exchange gains spiked, and sales of foreign-currency insurance also jumped.
Dollar insurance recorded 95,421 policies sold from Jan.–Oct. last year. That is more than double compared with 2024 (40,594). Earned premiums also totaled 2.8565 trillion won from Jan.–Oct. last year. As of Dec. 24 last year, the five major banks' individual dollar deposits balance was $12.73 billion, up $917 million from the end of the previous year. It is the largest in four years since the end of 2021.
Lee Chan-jin, head of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), on the 13th asked that guidance be provided to restrain excessive marketing and events for foreign-currency financial products through meetings with financial company management. Two days later, the FSS issued a consumer alert advising caution regarding dollar insurance.