Jeil 2 Savings Bank Executive Leaps to Death in Front of Customers.

Tragic story from South Korea about a Chief Executive of a savings bank chain who leapt to his death after his company was shut down by the government. Jeil 2 Savings Bank had come under investigation for bribery, bad loans, and risky investments in property. Depositors at the bank were queuing to withdraw money at Jeil 2 Savings Bank branches and affiliates throughout South Korea. According to the UK’s Daily Mail, operations were suspended at the banks due to their inadequate liquidity following failed real-estate investments. South Korea’s financial system has a depositor insurance program guaranteeing up to 50 million won of a depositor’s holdings in the bank. This is roughly equivalent to $50,000, so any amount above that would be lost should the bank have to be closed. This follows in the wake of the Busan Savings Bank scandal that saw some of South Korea’s top officials implicated in a corruption ring financed by the Busan Savings Bank directly. The Busan Savings Bank was implicated in using a slush fund for bribery of elected officials in South Korea that the bank specifically maintained to keep itself in operation in spite of its unstable financial condition. Of course, this was not the bank’s only problem as it had a general stability issue regardless, it merely prolonged its life through bribes which in turn only worsened the situation.

[Global Post, Daily Mail]