South Korea looking into bonuses at insurers, card firms – Yonhap

SEOUL – South Korea‘s financial regulator is looking into bonus schemes at major insurance and credit card companies as the government calls for firms with strong profits to help poor people, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday.

The move extends a campaign of President Yoon Suk-yeol that previously targeted banks and telecoms service providers. Yoon asked companies in those two sectors this week to share more of their profits with people who needed help.

Media had reported that such companies had paid generous early-retirement packages to long-serving employees.

Yonhap cited sources at the Financial Supervisory Service as saying the authorities were trying to check whether profit-sharing bonus payments in the banking and telecoms sectors were excessive in comparison with their profits.

Yoon’s government, in office for less than a year, also wants banks and telecom companies to share profits with vulnerable people by lowering debt-service costs or mobile phone service fees.