The financial regulator said Friday that Shinhan Bank employees had engaged in unauthorized access to customers’ accounts about 100 times.

“Some bank employees were found to have inquired into accounts of individual customers including their families, which is a breach of banking regulatory rules,” said an official of the Financial Supervisory Service.

He said there were more than 100 instances of irregular access at Shinhan Bank, adding that rule-violators would be subject to sanctions.

The misconduct came under the spotlight less than a year after the FSS issued a caution against the lender and reprimanded 65 executives and employees for similar unauthorized access to customers’ data.

The regulator said in July 2013 that the staffers were implicated in the wrongdoing 1,292 times or leaked financial transaction records of some customers to others.

The FSS, however, downplayed the allegation raised by civic groups that the bank had inquired into high-profile government officials and lawmakers.

“Since late 2013, we have conducted scrutiny into Shinhan Bank over allegations that the bank might have illicitly accessed lawmakers’ accounts and private information,” an official said.

But he said all of the accounts, inquired by some employees, were found to have been opened under ordinary people’s names.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)