Ten major securities firms in South Korea have paid out approximately 7 billion won in compensation to customers for IT accidents over the past three years.

According to data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to Representative Park Jun-tae of the ruling People Power Party on the National Policy Committee on October 3, a total of 113 IT accidents occurred at 10 comprehensive financial investment businesses with equity capital of 3 trillion won or more from 2024 through August of this year.

A total of 19,055 customers received compensation, with damage claims totaling 7.32923 billion won and payout amounts reaching 6.98941 billion won.

By company, Kiwoom Securities ranked first among major firms, paying out 3.80216 billion won in compensation across 13 accidents.

Korea Investment & Securities followed in second with 120.452 million won, followed by Samsung Securities with 83.987 million won, and Meritz Securities with 59.377 million won.

This year, Korea Investment & Securities recorded 4 accidents and paid 1.18208 billion won in compensation.

This accounted for 64.3 percent of the total 1.83843 billion won executed by major comprehensive financial investment businesses this year, the highest among them.

In March of this year, amid high market volatility, Korea Investment & Securities experienced a surge in trading volume, leading to disruptions in account balance inquiry services on mobile trading systems (MTS) for some customers.

Kiwoom Securities followed with 6 accidents and 404.51 million won this year.

By cause, out of the 113 IT accidents at major securities firms, program errors accounted for more than half at 58 cases (51.3 percent), followed by external factor-related disruptions at 31.9 percent, system failures at 15.9 percent, and human error at 0.9 percent.

Critics point out that securities firms, which earned massive profits during the stock market boom, have neglected budgets for investor protection, such as system stabilization and preliminary checks on information technology infrastructure.

Amid a series of accidents, financial authorities summoned IT executives from securities firms in March to urge them to review their response systems for IT accidents.

Representative Park Jun-tae pointed out that IT accidents at securities firms go beyond simple system errors to undermine the stability and reliability of the capital market, adding that financial authorities and the industry must come up with effective alternatives to encourage preemptive prevention and investment in IT infrastructure.

(Photo: Yonhap News)