SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s financial regulator said on Wednesday that rumours of financial troubles at two local savings banks were groundless and warned of legal action against those behind the rumours.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said in email and text messages to reporters that the banks named in the rumours – Welcome Savings Bank and OK Savings Bank – had no problems.
“The two savings banks both have BIS ratios far exceeding the regulatory requirements and are expected to post net profit for the first quarter after recording profit for 2022,” the FSS said, referring to the capital adequacy rules.
The FSS said the rumours about financial losses and payment problems at the banks had circulated in the morning and described the rumours as “malicious” and “not true”.
Both banks and the Korea Federation of Savings Banks, of which they are members, said in separate statements the rumours were false and groundless.
Financial markets appeared to be unaffected by the rumours, with the stock market’s benchmark KOSPI ending up for a fourth consecutive session while the 3-year treasury bond yield fell 0.6 of a basis point.
(Reporting by Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Tom Hogue and Sam Holmes)
