Woori Financial Guarantees Minimum Two-Year Term for Chief Consumer Protection Officers

Lim Jongryong Chairs "Group Financial Consumer Protection Council"
Emphasizes Strengthening Consumer Protection Capabilities
Establishes the First Dedicated "Financial Fraud Prevention Department" Among Banks

Woori Financial Group announced on September 21 that it held the "Group Financial Consumer Protection Council" at its headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on September 18, reaffirming its commitment to strengthening its capabilities to protect consumers.

At the meeting, Woori Financial Group Chairman Lim Jongryong stated, "Financial consumer protection is the top priority for the sustainable growth of Woori Financial Group," adding, "It should go beyond simple internal controls to become the ultimate management direction and goal for the group."

The "Group Financial Consumer Protection Council" is a regular meeting attended by 12 chief consumer protection officers (CCOs) from the holding company and its subsidiaries. This session was chaired directly by Chairman Lim Jongryong, and concrete implementation plans for the four core tasks to strengthen consumer protection were decided.

Woori Financial Group will first make a significant enhancement to its financial consumer protection governance. To comply with the financial authorities' best practices for financial consumer protection governance, the appointment and dismissal of the chief consumer protection officer (CCO) will require a board resolution, and the term of office will be guaranteed for at least two years.

Woori Financial Group will guarantee the CCO exclusive pre-approval rights on key consumer protection issues such as KPI design and will actively increase the staffing of the consumer protection department to maintain an appropriate workforce level. In particular, Chairman Lim Jongryong instructed, "CEOs and CCOs of each subsidiary should directly oversee the implementation of best practices and quickly establish the necessary systems."

Next, the group will strengthen both human and material resources to prevent financial crimes affecting people's livelihoods, such as voice phishing. Woori Bank will establish a "Financial Fraud Prevention Department" within this month, the first of its kind among banks, dedicated to preventing financial crimes such as voice phishing. The new department will consist of three teams (21 members) responsible for planning and policy related to financial fraud, preemptive prevention and response to financial fraud, and the advancement of the Fraud Detection System (FDS). The department will swiftly promote measures to prevent and respond to voice phishing and enhance abnormal transaction detection using AI.

Additionally, to prevent open banking from being exploited for voice phishing, the group will quickly implement an open banking safety-blocking service that can block fund transfer transactions. All group companies will also strengthen human and material resources necessary for preventing financial crimes affecting people's livelihoods, including proactive customer guidance and enhanced financial crime prevention training for employees.

The group also pledged to eradicate the misselling of high-risk financial investment products. The company will redesign its performance compensation system to prioritize customer interests over short-term business performance and will closely inspect business sites to ensure there are no elements of misselling in the sales process of high-risk financial investment products.

Furthermore, the group will root out the misselling of insurance products and improper business practices. Woori Financial Group will strengthen management by conducting unannounced inspections of briefing sales sites and re-examining the insurance product sales delegation process.

Considering that the insurance business accounts for more than half of financial consumer complaints, the group will promptly review and improve the entire process from product design, sales, and post-management from the consumer's perspective, especially in response to the recent increase in complaints related to insurance claim payments.

Meanwhile, after the meeting, Chairman Lim Jongryong sent a CEO letter to all employees across the group, urging them to focus their efforts on the swift implementation of best practices in financial consumer protection governance, prevention of financial crimes such as voice phishing, prevention of misselling of high-risk financial investment products, and prevention of misselling and improper business practices in insurance products.