Shinkumi Bank for Koreans in Japan Ordered to Suspend Biz

Sapporo, June 12 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Financial Services Agency on Friday ordered a "shinyo kumiai" credit association, or shinkumi bank, for Korean residents to suspend part of its operations after its management team was found to have covered up an executive's embezzlements of customer deposits.

Uri Shinkumi Bank, based in Sapporo, the capital of the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, was ordered not to extend loans to new customers for a month from July 14.

The FSA will also consider filing a criminal complaint against Uri Shinkumi Bank for obstructing its inspections, such as giving false explanations to inspectors.

The executive in question pocketed a total of as much as 1.4 billion yen in customer deposits. Separately, four cases of embezzlements by employees have been found.

In addition, the bank accepted deposit accounts opened with fictitious or someone else's names.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]