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Major South Korean banks fined $184 million for information-exchange cartel

( January 21, 2026, 03:22 GMT | Official Statement) -- MLex Summary: Four major South Korean banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori and Hana Bank — have been fined a combined 272 billion won ($184 million) by the country’s competition regulator for colluding over loan-to-value, or LTV, ratios, a key factor in determining mortgage limits. The Korea Fair Trade Commission said Wednesday that the banks exchanged LTV ratios over a prolonged period through in-person meetings and destroyed paper records to conceal their conduct. As a result, the banks maintained similar LTV ratios that were often lower than those offered by other lenders. The regulator concluded that the conduct restricted borrowers’ choice in the mortgage market, where the four banks together account for about 60 percent of market share, with small and medium-sized businesses particularly affected because of their heavily reliance on mortgages to finance operations. The statement is attached (in Korean)....

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