Investors not getting enough information
With equities and other financial investments emerging as the nation’s most popular investment option, many local financial companies still give insufficient information when they sell investment products, according to a survey by Korea’s top financial regulator yesterday.The survey of 700 investors in five cities by the Financial Supervisory Service showed around half of the respondents were not satisfied with the information they received on financial products they purchased.
Thirty-six percent of those surveyed said the sellers emphasized only high returns when they offered financial products. Around 13 percent of those surveyed said they did not get any explanation at all.
The portion of all investments placed in various financial instruments rose by 10.4 percentage points to 56.4 percent, compared with a similar survey a year earlier. The latest survey was conducted for two weeks through Dec. 13, 2007.
The watchdog said it will introduce a rule to penalize companies that do not provide sufficient information, but buyers still must be on their toes, the agency said.
According to the survey, only 48.3 percent of those surveyed read contract clauses when they purchased financial products. Around 58 percent said they did not ask the sellers about the contract clauses they did not understand.
By Moon Gwang-lip Staff Reporter [joe@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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