**Establishing a Database of Employees’ Relatives… New Approval Credit Inspection Organization and Audit Advisory Group Formed**
**After Detecting Unfair Loans, Reformation Plan… President Kim Sung-tae Apologizes to the Public, Pledges to Do His Best to Restore Trust**
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Ho-kyung = IBK Industrial Bank is strengthening its internal controls to prevent the recurrence of a recently uncovered large-scale unfair loan scheme.
On the 26th, Kim Sung-tae, the president of the bank, along with other executives, regional headquarters heads, review center heads, and heads of departments related to internal control held an expanded executive meeting at the bank’s headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, where they announced the ‘IBK Reform Plan.’
According to the plan, IBK will establish a database of employees’ relatives to fundamentally block conflicts of interest and will require confirmation of prevention of unfair loans from the staff involved in all loan processes. This means that employees need to document that there is no conflict of interest with the loans they handle.
A new ‘approval credit inspection organization’ will also be set up to re-evaluate approved loans for any issues.
Additionally, the bank plans to hire external experts to report internal audit-related misconduct and operate an ‘audit advisory group’ composed of internal and external experts.
To ensure that this reform plan does not become a one-time declaration, IBK will soon launch the ‘IBK Reform Committee’ to manage overall internal control.
At the meeting, President Kim said, “I sincerely apologize to the disappointed customers and the public,” and promised, “We will take this as an opportunity for thorough reflection and formulate measures to prevent recurrence, striving to restore trust.”