[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that Yegaram Savings Bank and Korea Savings Bank, affiliates of the Taekwang Group, have lost the second trial in a lawsuit they filed against the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to cancel fines imposed on them. Yegaram and Korea Savings Bank were fined a combined total of approximately 2 billion won for providing their customers' personal credit information to group affiliates without customer consent. While the first trial ruled in favor of the two savings banks, the verdict was overturned in the second trial, which emphasized the responsibility of financial companies in managing credit information. With Yegaram and Korea Savings Bank now facing nearly 2 billion won in fines, attention is focused on whether they will appeal to the Supreme Court.
On August 20, the 7th Administrative Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Kwon Soon-hyung) issued a ruling to dismiss all claims made by Yegaram Savings Bank and Korea Savings Bank in their appeal against the Financial Services Commission regarding the cancellation of the 2 billion won in fines. This result overturns the first trial, which had been won by Yegaram and Korea Savings Bank.
Korea Savings Bank and Yegaram Savings Bank are financial affiliates of the Taekwang Group. Along with Heungkuk Life Insurance, Heungkuk Fire & Marine Insurance, Heungkuk Securities, and Heungkuk Asset Management, they belong to the "Heungkuk Financial Family" within the Taekwang Group. Korea Savings Bank is the parent company holding a 65.3% stake in Yegaram Savings Bank, and the largest shareholder of Korea Savings Bank is Lee Ho-jin, former chairman of Taekwang Group (30.5%). Yegaram Savings Bank operates in Seoul, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam, while Korea Savings Bank operates in the Busan region.
Since 2014, Taekwang Group affiliates have formed a management council to provide support across general business areas such as planning, human resources, finance, and public relations. Between December 2019 and November 2021, Yegaram Savings Bank provided 77 instances of customer credit information to the council for purposes including legal review and management status reports. From April 2018 to November 2021, Korea Savings Bank provided 71 instances of credit information without customer consent. In December 2024, financial authorities determined that these actions violated the Use and Protection of Credit Information Act (Credit Information Act) and imposed fines of 1.034 billion won on Yegaram Savings Bank and 948 million won on Korea Savings Bank.
Yegaram and Korea Savings Bank filed an administrative lawsuit, claiming that the financial authorities' measures were excessive. They argued that providing personal credit information to the council was intended for simple legal advice or management reports, not for credit assessment purposes. Furthermore, they claimed that since they had merely outsourced the processing of personal information rather than providing it to a third party, prior consent was not required.
The Seoul Administrative Court, which handled the first trial, pointed out that the information provided by Yegaram and Korea Savings Bank to the council constituted personal credit information under the Credit Information Act and therefore required prior customer consent. It also found that they failed to implement necessary information protection measures as required by the Credit Information Act, such as failing to sign information processing outsourcing contracts with the council and failing to notify financial authorities of the information provision.
Nevertheless, the administrative court ruled in favor of the two savings banks because it deemed the amount of the fines to be disproportionate to the severity of the violations. The court stated, "The act of providing information by Yegaram and Korea Savings Bank has a lower level of illegality compared to typical cases of unauthorized provision of personal credit information," adding that "there appears to be no illicit profit directly gained from the provision of information," thus concluding there was room to reduce the fines.
However, the Seoul High Court’s judgment was different. The appellate court held that the discretion of the Financial Services Commission in the process of calculating and imposing fines should be respected. Furthermore, it pointed out that the original fines determined by the FSC were 1.478 billion won for Yegaram and 1.355 billion won for Korea Savings Bank, but these were reduced by 30% after undergoing review by the Agenda Review Subcommittee, suggesting the final amounts were not excessive.
The court stated, "Looking at the detailed considerations taken into account during the base rate calculation stage, factors such as the purpose of providing the information (legal advice) and the actual degree of damage were included," and ruled that "since all favorable circumstances for the two companies were reflected, the resulting fines were calculated in their favor."
Above all, the second trial placed significant importance on the obligation of financial firms to comply with the Credit Information Act. It emphasized that fines imposed under the Credit Information Act are intended not only to recover illegal gains obtained through violations but also to prevent the violations themselves.
The court ruled, "Even considering that the Credit Information Act lacks clear criteria distinguishing between third-party provision and processing outsourcing, given that Yegaram and Korea Savings Bank failed to implement any of the measures required for the outsourcing of personal credit information, the strict duty of financial companies to comply with financial-related laws, and the fact that their annual revenue is around 100 billion won, it is difficult to view the FSC's fine as an abuse of discretion."
Meanwhile, regarding the result of this appeal, Korea Savings Bank stated, "We plan to determine our future response, such as whether to appeal to the Supreme Court, after a thorough review of the written judgment."