Financial authorities have warned against sales of defective financial products, despite regulatory moves to bolster consumer protection in the financial sector. (Image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jan. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — About 60 percent of South Koreans say that advertisements for financial products are exaggerated, a survey showed Wednesday, underscoring customers’ mistrust towards the sector as a whole.
The survey, conducted by Gallup Korea and commissioned by the Financial Services Commission (FSC), showed that 60.7 percent of the 2,194 respondents believed that financial firms exaggerated or distorted the reality of their products in ads.
Although 79.1 percent of the respondents say employees at financial firms treat customers with “kindness,” some 73.9 percent said the same workers don’t pay attention to customers after selling the products.
The survey called for financial authorities to step up their efforts on consumer protection, the FSC said.
Financial authorities have warned against sales of defective financial products, despite regulatory moves to bolster consumer protection in the financial sector.
Last year, financial authorities found thousands of unfair calculations of loan rates after inspecting nine banks.
Authorities conducted on-site inspections of three banks — BNK Kyongnam Bank, KEB Hana Bank and Citibank Korea — over allegations that they slapped unfairly high interest rates on borrowers by omitting their income or collateral in lending rate calculations, according to an industry source.
(Yonhap)
