Financial Incidents Top 1 Trillion Won, Occurring Every Two Days

Over the past six years, financial accidents in South Korea have occurred at a rate of approximately once every two days, totaling over 1 trillion won, with last year marking a record high. Data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, to lawmaker Kang Min-guk's office, shows a total of 609 financial accidents recorded from 2020 to April of this year, with a cumulative amount of 1.2419 trillion won. The annual amount of accident funds increased from 17.245 billion won (76 cases) in 2020 to 431.897 billion won (188 cases) in 2025, with 2025 recording the largest scale of accidents in history. Accidents from January to April of this year amounted to 73.913 billion won across 50 cases.

By type, financial fraud accounted for the largest portion with 505.282 billion won (253 cases), followed by breaches of duty with 291.193 billion won (80 cases), embezzlement/misappropriation with 205.190 billion won (208 cases), and theft/seizure with 1.050 billion won (14 cases). Financial fraud significantly increased from 55.8 billion won (32 cases) in 2024 to 331.83 billion won (113 cases) in 2025.

By sector, banks accounted for the largest share of accident funds at 769.764 billion won (381 cases), representing 62.0% of the total. Securities firms followed with 262.290 billion won (62 cases), card companies with 108.068 billion won (32 cases), and savings banks with 81.243 billion won (55 cases). Within the banking sector, Woori Bank had the largest financial accident scale at 230.951 billion won (50 cases). Shinhan Investment Corp. recorded the largest accident scale among securities firms at 23.018 billion won (7 cases), and Pureun Mutual Savings Bank had the largest scale among savings banks at 17.371 billion won (4 cases). Lotte Card had the largest scale among card companies at 96.181 billion won (4 cases).