After 2 Years, Woori Bank Faces Another Embezzlement Case Over 10 Billion Won; Financial Supervisory Service Begins Inspection

A embezzlement incident involving loan funds worth around 10 billion KRW occurred at Woori Bank. The supervisory authorities plan to commence an on-site inspection as early as today after verifying the facts.

According to the financial sector on the 11th, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) received a report last night about the embezzlement of loan funds worth around 10 billion KRW at Woori Bank and decided to start an on-site inspection as soon as possible. This is a recurrence of a large-scale embezzlement incident just two years after the bank promised to strengthen internal controls following a 70 billion KRW embezzlement case by an employee of the Corporate Improvement Department in 2022.

A senior official from the FSS stated, "A voluntary surrender occurred last night, and since we have received the report of the incident, we are currently verifying the facts. Given that another large-scale embezzlement has occurred, we will begin an inspection as soon as possible," adding, "We may start the inspection as early as today or tomorrow."

Woori Bank discovered yesterday that approximately 10 billion KRW of customer loan funds were embezzled at its Gimhae branch in Gyeongnam Province. It is reported that Mr. A from the branch manipulated customer loan applications and deposit-related documents from early this year until recently, and invested the embezzled loan funds in overseas futures and other instruments. His estimated investment losses currently amount to about 6 billion KRW.

Woori Bank identified the incident through its internal control system. The bank’s Credit Supervision Department detected abnormal signs during the loan process through monitoring, requested explanations from Mr. A, and forwarded transaction details to the team leader in charge for verification. Following this, Mr. A voluntarily surrendered to the police last night, and Woori Bank dispatched a special investigation team to recover the embezzled funds.

Woori Bank stated, "We will thoroughly investigate to identify problems in the loan execution process and prevent recurrence of similar cases," adding, "We will strictly discipline the related employees and strengthen awareness of internal controls through education for all staff."