South Korea-based Busan Bank’s employee steals 1.4B won in customer funds to buy crypto

A foreign employee of South Korea-based Busan Bank stole about 1.48 billion won of customer funds and invested in crypto assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and local media. report Aug. 1.

Employees reportedly stole funds between July 9th and July 25th.

South Korea is looking to stricter controls

According to the report, South Korea is considering reviewing the governance law of financial companies because of theft.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) of the country said the embezzlement was caused by a lack of internal control in eight key areas, including personnel management, self-store audits and seal management.

Regulators have also found that unusual transaction monitoring procedures and irregular remittance conditions are also affecting major embezzlement cases.

According to the FSS, Shinhan Bank and Woori Bank reported more than 4 trillion won in overseas remittances, and the total amount of suspicious bank transactions was about 7 trillion won.

Regulatory moves to amend the Corporate Governance Act are not directly related to irregular remittances or large-scale embezzlement, but such amendments are believed to have the potential to improve internal control practices.

The FSS recently announced that it will amend the law to improve management’s responsibility for internal control.

It also forms a task force with stronger internal controls to prevent accidents in the banking sector and discusses legislative changes.

Part of the expected revision is to force the CEO to comply with internal control standards. Currently, the law only imposes an obligation to set internal control standards.

Such amendments hold financial institution executives accountable in the event of a financial accident, and they may be subject to sanctions,

Authorities believe that such a law would allow executives to pay more attention to the company’s internal operations.

In addition, the FSS is considering establishing an internal control sector as part of the financial institution’s criteria. It can also increase the strength of the audit unit.