President Wi Seong-baek of Korea Deposit Insurance Corp.(KDIC), left, swears with others before the Political Affairs Committee of the National Assembly as the parliamentary audit begins. (Photo: National Assembly of the Republic of Korea)

President Wi Seong-baek of KDIC said it was a great honor to have the parliamentary audit of Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. by a number of great people, led by Chairman Rep. Min Byung-doo of the Political Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, and other respectable legislative members.

Wi made the remarks as the parliamentary audit began on Oct. 14. He added that it was a “great honor to see the National Assembly look back on the company’s achievements,” which also is a valuable time to reexamine the direction of the company’s future operations.

-Following is a reflection of what the legislators pointed out during the audit:

KDIC has not neglected its duty to protect depositors and enhance stability of the financial system in the country since its set up in 1996, overcoming the IMF financial crisis and taking care of the savings banks defaults, the CEO said.

Most recently, the company preemptively prevented damages on people’s assets and discomfort from the financial companies’ defaults, and has been doing its best to heighten its capacity to be ready for any future financial crisis.

The company also did everything to make sure that there are no dead zones in the deposit insurance system in the fast changing financial environment, both at home and abroad, he said, adding that the company is committed to its social duty to make sure that no lax spots are found in the performance of its duty to protect consumers as a public organization.

We have been committed to diverse efforts to maintain stability in the financial market by improving the risk monitoring system, and to periodically cope with the changes in the financial environment, he said.

Wi added that they analyze the potential risk factors by collecting information on the risky financial firms to find out their potential problems and take care of them before they happen in a bid to improve the risk monitoring system.

He said they have been trying to effectively run graded vehicle insurance premium rates, and make the evaluation model and index finely detailed to lead the secondary financial firms to manage responsively under sound management.

“We have been working hard to collect the support funds provided to boost the health of the funds and so the public burdens may be lightened,” he said.

“We will try to have the stakes held by Woori Financial Holdings and Hanwha Life Insurance in financial firms put on the sale blocks according to the road map and depending on the market situation.

“We will try to help some 38,000 depositors hurt by the default of Busan Savings Bank thru close cooperation with the National Assembly and the government. We will work hard to normalize the Kamco City development project in Cambodia.

“We will also redouble our efforts to thicken the protective walls for the financial consumers. We will expand the depositors to be protected and improve the deposit insurance system by removing the dead zones in the system.

“We will take actions so that the deposit insurance money would be paid within 7 days from the day that a financial firm went bankrupt.” KDIC, as a public organization, will make sure that its social responsibility is executed in full at all times.

“We will expand the hiring of youths by trying to make the civilian jobs grow fast in cooperation with the related organizations,” he said. “We will strengthen the education for financial matters on socially displaced people so that they can achieve economic independence and strengthen it. We will execute diverse social service activity so that our hands would reach every right place.

“Last, but not least, we will try to improve the deposit insurance system by having the professional manpower assigned to the right place at the right time always under the ceaseless organizational reform.”

A view of the building in Seoul where KDIC has offices. (Photo: KDIC)