Financial product counseling is being conducted at a commercial bank in Seoul. yunhap news
“With the enforcement of the Financial Consumer Protection Act (Money Law), it will take at least 40 minutes after the start of the consultation. If you have time, please come back and we will be kindly guided.”
On the 25th, Mr. Kim, 43, an office worker who visited the branch of A bank in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul to join the pension fund, had to wait about 30 minutes and then return. There were six or seven tens of thousands of people waiting in the bank, and the customers who were consulting at four counters showed no signs of happening.
Kim said, “I heard that the enforcement of the prohibition law could be confusing, but I didn’t know it would be this much.”
Even when signing up for a deposit, reading each manual was’sweat’
On the first day of the law enforcement, financial company branches and customers, mainly commercial banks, had a truly confused day.
The six sales principles (conformity principle, adequacy principle, duty of explanation, prohibition of unfair behavior, prohibition of unfair solicitation, prohibition of false or exaggerated advertising), which have been applied to some financial products, have been extended to virtually all financial products. The mandate to explain various products and issue manuals was largely affected.
Customers who visited the branch complained that it took about three times longer than usual to complete the process of signing up for financial products.
Seomo (60), a housewife who visited a commercial bank in Jung-gu, Seoul to sign up for installment savings and fund products, said, “The bank employee reads all the letters in the manual, and it is the amount of documents that he gave that he must take,” he said. “It’s the first time I’ve ever been to a bank while I’m in and out of the bank.”
Visitors are not the only ones who have lost sweat all day. An employee of a commercial bank branch said, “I was more inclined because the seniors’ pension receipt date, loan expiration date, and company payday were all over,” he said. “Because I was busy, I persuaded a customer to clarify the points instead of reading the manual, so I had time to read them one by one. It took more,” he said. An employee at the head office of a bank said, “There was a series of calls from employees at branches across the country,” he said.
On the afternoon of the 25th, the first day of the Financial Consumer Protection Act (Money Soo Act) enforcement, a notice about the temporary suspension of the new deposit and withdrawal passbook service is posted on the STM (Smart Teller Machine) installed in the Yeouido Headquarters of KB Kookmin Bank in Seoul. From this day on, major commercial banks stopped selling non-face-to-face products and artificial intelligence (AI) services. yunhap news
If the system is incomplete, the product is discontinued.
This wasn’t the only confusion. Major banks even stopped selling some financial products, mainly non-face-to-face. This is because the kiosks (unmanned terminals) operated by banks have not been able to provide the’duty to explain’ system. From this day on, Woori Bank decided to stop selling new deposits and funds through kiosks and issuing new credit cards, and resume sequentially from April.
NH Nonghyup Bank has stopped selling non-face-to-face new subscriptions to pension savings fund accounts and selling all-in-one fund products by tying up several fund products. The timing of resumption of sales is undecided. Shinhan Bank will also stop opening new bankbooks through kiosks for a certain period of time. A Shinhan Bank official said, “We are upgrading the kiosk system so that product manuals can be issued by e-mail.”
Confusion is adding to consumer discomfort, but financial sectors and financial authorities are only fighting’your fault’. In the financial sector, it is argued that the government was too late to decide on the enforcement ordinance of the prohibition law and that there was not enough time to prepare the field.
An official from the banking sector said, “There is a wide range to be prepared according to the enforcement decree, such as product descriptions, terms and conditions, computerization, and internal regulations,” he said. “However, the time was physically tight as the enforcement decree was decided only on the 17th, about a week before the enforcement of the law.” said.
However, financial authorities are accusing banks of not preparing properly and turning the timing of deciding on the enforcement decree as an excuse.
An official from the financial authorities said, “The law was already completed a year ago, and the industry participated in discussions when making enforcement ordinances or supervisory regulations.” There is no modification to the side,” he refuted.
Coarse reporter [email protected]
Jeonghyun Kim reporter [email protected]
Kwak Joo-hyun reporter [email protected]
News directly edited by the Hankook Ilbo can also be viewed on Naver.
