SEOUL, Feb 17 (Reuters) – South Korea has extended its control of compensation systems to insurance and credit card companies after the country’s president called on high-profit companies to help ease the burden of the cost of living for vulnerable people.
The Financial Monitoring Service (FSS) checks with major insurance and credit card companies whether their profit-sharing bonus payments were excessive in relation to profits, a media department official said on Friday, without giving further details. details.
The main insurance companies and credit card companies in South Korea are Samsung Life Insurance (032830.KS), Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (000810.KS) and Shinhancard.
Yonhap News Agency reported that some major insurance companies recently paid employees up to half of their annual salary as performance bonuses.
The regulator’s decision extends a campaign by President Yoon Suk-yeol that previously targeted banks and telecom service providers. Yoon this week asked companies in these two sectors to share more of their profits with people who needed help.
Yoon’s government, in power for less than a year, also wants banks and telecom companies to share profits with vulnerable people by reducing debt servicing costs or mobile phone charges.
The reaction from stocks of insurance companies and parent companies of credit card companies was muted. Investors focused more on declines in global stock prices, fearing further rate hikes in the United States.
source: nouvelles-du-monde