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<version>v8.0</version>
<date>2026-08-06 16:40:22</date>
<action>I</action>
<registdate>2026-08-06 16:31:00</registdate>
<modifydate>2026-08-06 16:39:04</modifydate>
<publishdate>2026-08-06 16:40:12</publishdate>
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<newsid>823391</newsid>
<orgid>823324</orgid>
<language>EN</language>
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<category1_name>금융/증권</category1_name>
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<newsSubject><![CDATA[Fair Trade Commission, Warning Of Fines Of Up To KRW 15 Trillion Against 15 Firms, Including Samsung and Meritz Securities, For Government Bond Price-Fixing.]]></newsSubject>
<newsSummary><![CDATA[]]></newsSummary>
<newsTag><![CDATA[FairTradeCommission,Fines]]></newsTag>
<newsLinks><![CDATA[]]></newsLinks>
<news_prolog><![CDATA[(Seoul=NSP NEWS) =]]></news_prolog>
<news1><![CDATA[The Fair Trade Commission has proposed imposing fines of up to KRW 15 trillion on a total of 15 entities, including primary dealers(PDs) Kyobo, Daishin, Meritz, and Mirae Asset Securities, as well as Kookmin, Nonghyup, IBK, Hana, and Korea Development Bank, on charges of agreeing on bid interest rates in advance or exchanging related information during the government bond bidding process.

According to the Fair Trade Commission on the 6th, the Commission's Secretariat submitted an examination report to the Commission on February 28 of last year containing the facts of the conduct and opinions on measures regarding the illegality of the government bond bidding collusion case, and sent it to 15 PD operators on March 10 of the same year. This fact was disclosed for the first time ahead of the plenary meeting deliberation.

The targets are 10 securities companies, including Kyobo, Daishin, Meritz, Mirae Asset, Samsung, Shinhan, NH Investment, KB, Korea Investment, and Kiwoom Securities, and 5 banks, including Kookmin, Nonghyup, Industrial Bank, Hana, and Korea Development Bank. They are suspected of engaging in bid rigging and information exchange rigging while participating in treasury bond bidding for approximately 3 years and 6 months from January 2020 to June 2023.
The biggest point of contention in the case is the standard for calculating the fine. The Fair Trade Commission calculated the relevant revenue based on the volume of government bond auctions affected by the collusion, amounting to approximately KRW 76.2 trillion. This means that the standard was based on the auction amount itself, rather than the operating revenue earned by financial companies from government bond trading.

If the statutory upper limit of 20% for collusion fines is simply applied to this standard, the maximum fine reaches approximately KRW 15.24 trillion. Even if the standard rate of 15%, which is typically applied to very serious violations, is applied, the figure is around KRW 11.43 trillion.

An official from the Fair Trade Commission stated, "Under the law, bid rigging is defined based on the contract amount, while purchasing rigging is defined based on the purchase amount as the relevant sales revenue." The official added, "Since this case involves collusion among the respondents during the bidding process for government bonds, we determined that it is reasonable to regard the winning bid amount and the purchase amount as the relevant sales revenue."

The financial investment industry takes the position that the application of the winning bid amount standard is excessive.

"The actual margin for government bond underwriting is merely a tiny fraction of the winning bid amount, but if the entire transaction volume is counted as related revenue, fines exceeding individual companies' equity could result," said a senior official in the securities industry. "In a structure where the right to participate in bidding is granted in exchange for bearing market-making obligations, if large-scale sanctions are confirmed, the incentive to participate in primary dealer(PD) activities will decrease, potentially undermining the stability of the government bond issuance market."]]></news1>
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<news_epilog_byline><![CDATA[By Soon-ki Lee(s8789@nspna.com) and Myung hwan Yu(ymh7536@nspna.com)]]></news_epilog_byline>
<news_epilog><![CDATA[ⓒNSP News Agency·NSP TV. All rights reserved.]]></news_epilog>
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<location><![CDATA[Seoul]]></location>
<teamID>110</teamID>
<teamName><![CDATA[국제부]]></teamName>
<writerID>s8789</writerID>
<writerName><![CDATA[Soon-ki Lee]]></writerName>
<writerTitle><![CDATA[Reporter]]></writerTitle>
<writerEmail><![CDATA[s8789@nspna.com]]></writerEmail>
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<writerName2><![CDATA[Myung hwan Yu]]></writerName2>
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