Saemaul Geumgo Suffers 44 Billion Won in Financial Accidents Over Six Years

74 Financial Accidents Occurred from 2020 to 2025
Single Borrower Limit Exceeding Loans Surge Tenfold
Sharp Increase in Disciplinary Actions Against Executives and Employees...
Calls for Stronger Oversight and Supervision

It has been confirmed that, over the past six years (from 2020 to August 2025), financial accident losses at Saemaul Geumgo have totaled approximately 44.07 billion won.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's report on "Saemaul Geumgo Financial Accident Status," which was released by Assemblywoman Park Junghyun of the Democratic Party of Korea on October 3, there have been 74 cases of financial accidents.

The severity of Saemaul Geumgo's financial accidents has been repeatedly highlighted, including the financial accident at the Dong-gu branch in Daegu earlier this year (the Chuncheon private rental apartment deposit fraud case involving over 30 billion won), as well as the loan and cash embezzlement cases that occurred in Buk-gu and Seo-gu, Daegu in June.

The number of people subject to disciplinary action has also increased. According to the disciplinary disclosure records, the number of executives and employees disciplined for illegal or improper acts rose sharply from 207 in 2023 to 358 in 2024. As of August this year, 123 executives and employees have already been listed for disciplinary disclosure.

Park Junghyun, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea Photo by Kim Hyunmin kimhyun81@

The amount of loans exceeding the single borrower limit has increased more than tenfold in just four years, from 45.951 billion won in 2020 to 403.343 billion won in 2024. It appears that the average size of loans exceeding the single borrower limit, which exploits regulatory loopholes, has grown significantly. There are growing calls for stricter regulation of such excessive lending, as it can severely undermine the financial soundness of financial institutions.

Assemblywoman Park stated, "Since the beginning of the year, issues such as embezzlement and breach of trust at Saemaul Geumgo have continuously come under scrutiny," adding, "In order to address the situation, which has escalated from various real estate project financing and improper loans to direct cases of embezzlement, I plan to urge the implementation of concrete self-rescue measures by the end of the year."