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| ▲ Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Lee Chan-jin (Yonhap) |
financial watchdog-Coupang unit
Watchdog probes Coupang's financial unit over high-interest loans
SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Yonhap) -- The country's financial watchdog on Monday said it has launched a probe into e-commerce giant Coupang Inc.'s financial unit over its high-interest loan products.
Coupang Financial has recently come under fire for its high-interest loans to vendors who use Coupang's e-commerce platform.
"Unacceptable interest rates are arbitrarily levied (on Coupang Financial's loans), and (Coupang Financial) seems to make exorbitant profits," Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Gov. Lee Chan-jin told reporters.
Coupang Financial extends loans at interest rates ranging from 8.9 percent to 18.9 percent, according to the FSS.
The FSS' probe into Coupang Financial comes amid a controversy surrounding a data breach incident at U.S.-listed Coupang Inc.
The company, citing its own investigation, earlier claimed the incident had affected only about 3,000 user accounts, instead of the over 33.7 million it had initially reported.
The government has rejected Coupang's claims, calling them a "unilateral" conclusion of a still ongoing investigation.
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