The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is significantly increasing the maximum compliance whistleblower reward to KRW 1 billion for secondary financial sectors—including savings banks, credit cooperatives, and card and capital companies—while strengthening protections for whistleblowers.

On the 14th, the FSS announced that it has established and implemented the "Compliance Whistleblower Activation Plan" in cooperation with central associations and federations across each industry.

The core of this initiative is the overhaul of existing internal reporting systems to establish a standard compliance whistleblower framework for secondary financial sectors based on six key principles. It unifies operating standards that previously varied by sector, expands both the scope of reportable issues and reward criteria, and strengthens safeguards for whistleblowers.

First, the reward limit for whistleblowing—previously ranging from several million to tens of millions of won—will be raised to a maximum of KRW 1 billion (KRW 500 million for smaller institutions) depending on the size of the financial company. The scope of rewards is also being broadened from simply uncovering financial accidents to reports contributing to the prevention of accidents, significant violations of laws, or extensive consumer harm.

The pool of eligible whistleblowers is being expanded from current executives and employees to include retirees and outsiders. Advance reporting is now permitted not only for illegal acts that have already occurred, but also when violations are anticipated.

Anonymous reporting and proxy reporting through attorneys are also permitted. Furthermore, the prohibition of seven types of adverse actions against whistleblowers—such as unfair disciplinary action or personnel reassignments—will be explicitly codified. In particular, if an adverse action occurs within two years of a report, the financial company is required to prove the legitimacy of that action.

Employees who voluntarily report their own illegal activities may receive reduced disciplinary measures, while clear grounds for discipline have been established for those who fail to report knowing of others' wrongdoing. However, the rule penalizing non-reporters will be applied first to savings banks and specialized credit financial business sectors.

Each central association and financial institution plans to regularly inspect the operational status of the system, report to their boards of directors, and conduct training for executives and employees. The revised system took effect on the 1st of this month for savings banks, will be implemented on the 19th for credit cooperatives, and will roll out on the 1st of next month for specialized credit financial companies.

Going forward, the FSS plans to inspect the appropriateness of compliance whistleblower operations during financial company examinations and support the stable settlement of the system.

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