Heads of the nation’s top four financial groups will see their annual salaries slashed by at least 30 percent this year, according to regulatory officials on Tuesday.

They are Woori Financial chairman Lee Soon-woo, KB Financial chairman Lim Young-rok, Hana Financial chairman Kim Jung-tai and Shinhan Financial chairman Han Dong-woo.

The four groups have notified the Financial Supervisory Service of their decision to cut their chiefs’ yearly wages by 30-40 percent from the levels of a year earlier, said an FSS official.

Over the past few months, regulatory inspectors have conducted a full-fledged investigation into the “propriety” of the income level of chief executives in the financial industry.

The FSS’ investigation comes amid mounting criticism that CEOs of financial companies were paid “excessively” high salaries despite their companies’ falling profitability between 2012 and 2013.

(kys@heraldcorp.com)