South Korea Financial Services Commission launches pilot of responsibilities mapping for large specialized credit finance businesses and savings banks

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced a pilot of the responsibilities mapping system for large-sized specialized credit finance businesses with total assets of KRW 5 trillion or more and savings banks with total assets of KRW 700 billion or more, ahead of the legal submission deadline under the amended Act on Corporate Governance of Financial Companies. Responsibilities maps are submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and, once submitted, chief executives and other executive officers become subject to internal control oversight and risk management duties for their areas and may face sanctions for violations. To address firms’ reluctance to adopt maps early, the pilot offers incentives including FSS consultation on submitted maps, non-accountability under the Act for mishandling internal control oversight duties during the pilot period, and consideration of internally identified violations and self-corrective measures when assessing mitigation or exemption from sanctions. Firms joining the pilot must submit responsibilities maps to the FSS by April 10, 2026. The FSC also reiterated that responsibilities maps must be submitted by July 2, 2026 for large specialized credit finance businesses and savings banks, and for smaller financial investment businesses and insurance companies with total assets below KRW 5 trillion, following earlier roll-out to banks and financial holding companies from January 2, 2025 and to large financial investment companies and insurance companies from July 2, 2025.