By Kang Seung-woo
Non-life insurance companies went to the court most often in the first half of 2010 as they ranked the top in the number of lawsuits against consumers among financial institutions, a financial watchdog said Wednesday.
In a report regarding financial firms’ legal action taken in the first six months of the year, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said that non-life insurers ranked first with 457 litigation cases
It accounts for 90.1 percent of the total litigation filed by financial companies. The number of lawsuits brought by consumers was 38.
The combined figures for banks, including savings banks and capital firms were 30, or 5.9 percent, to sit second, followed by life insurance companies with 18 and securities and investment firms with two.
The FSC said that it came up with the results to help customers select financial companies and for the firms to gradually stop taking disagreements to court.
It appears companies’ litigation is on the decline.
On a year-on-year basis, the number of lawsuits went down 329 cases, or 37.6 percent, from a year ago.
According to the financial watchdog, the major reason for non-life insurance companies becoming the runaway leader in litigations is that clients were not satisfied with the insurers’ payment and calculation for loss.
Heungkuk Fire and Marine Insurance filed the most lawsuits with 70, followed by Hyundai Marine and Fire Insurance with 67 and Dongbu Insurance with 60.
“Since March, the FSC has posted the current status and results of financial firms’ litigations on a regular basis to persuade them not to excessively depend on legal action against customers,” a FSC official said.
“It has paid off, as it has provided a positive sign.”
The FSC intends to keep flexing its muscles in this area.
“We plan to inspect the actual conditions of financial firms which stay in the upper ranks or delay submitting related documents on suspicion of neglecting consumer protection in August.”