KEB Hana, KB Kookmin banks suspected of illicit hiring

South Korea's two major banks are suspected of creating lists to give undue hiring favors to the families and acquaintances of influential figures, sources said Sunday.

The Financial Supervisory Service has recently filed complaints with the prosecution against five banks, including KEB Hana Bank and KB Kookmin Bank, over alleged irregularities in hiring new staff. 

The complaints allegedly included the two banks' lists of candidates suspected of receiving preferential treatments in the hiring process.

The lists of KEB Hana Bank and KB Kookmin Bank had 55 and 20 people, respectively, related to influential people, including the banks' former and incumbent senior officials, according to the sources. 

(Yonhap)

All on the list passed the companies' initial screening process in 2015 and 2016.

Last week, the prosecution indicted a former head of South Korea's No. 3 lender Woori Bank and other company officials over alleged irregularities in hiring new employees between 2015 and 2017. The bank's former chief Lee Kwang-goo resigned in the course of the investigation. (Yonhap)