It was confirmed that the Financial Supervisory Service is even receiving ad placement details by media outlet as it conducts on-site inspections of social contribution activities at the four major financial holding companies. In the banking sector, some say this oversteps the FSS's role of supervising the soundness of financial institutions. There is also analysis that by checking each bank's ad spending by media outlet, the agency may be trying indirectly to influence media it does not favor.
According to the financial authorities on the 15th, the Financial Supervisory Service began an inspection of social contribution activities at KB Financial Group on this day, following Woori Financial Group last week. In the process, the FSS requested not only social contribution donations, brand advertising processes, and expense details, but also materials on ad spending executed by each media outlet.
This inspection began in preparation for the National Assembly audit in the second half of this year. Min Byung-deok of the Democratic Party of Korea said at last year's audit that financial holding companies were effectively running image ads while classifying them as social contribution activities to receive tax benefits.
Banks initially took the inspection as a routine status check. However, once the agency asked for ad spending details by media outlet, questions arose over whether the social contribution review was a pretext and the real aim was to obtain ad spending data by media outlet.
The purpose of the Financial Supervisory Service is to establish a sound credit order and fair financial transaction practices, and to protect financial consumers such as depositors and investors, thereby contributing to the development of the national economy. Given that, while it may assess whether total ad spending is appropriate relative to net profit, how much was spent on which media outlet is unrelated to prudential supervision.
A commercial bank official said, "Whatever the true intent, saying they will review ad spending by media outlet while checking social contribution activities is enough to raise suspicions of another purpose."
In response, an FSS official said, "This inspection is a routine fact-finding review to understand the overall status of social contribution activities," and added, "None of the FSS's inspections are conducted with a specific purpose."