Ruling to pay 100 million to Kookmin Bank for incomplete sale of funds

(서울=연합뉴스) By Lee Sang-hyun Reporter = The Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 21 (Associate Judge Choi Seung-rok) on Friday ruled in part in favor of the plaintiffs, an aunt who bought a fund from Kookmin Bank and four members of her family, "to pay 150 million won to compensate for investment losses.) and four of her family members who bought a fund from Kookmin Bank on Friday, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the bank to "compensate them for investment losses."

The court said, "The bank employee did not fully explain the risks while recommending the purchase of a fund with a high probability of principal loss, and actively recommended a transaction with excessive risk in light of the buyer's investment situation."

The court limited the bank's liability to 70 percent of the damages, considering that the victims did not carefully review the contents, profit and loss structure, and risk of the investment and that their wishes were reflected in the selection of the funds.

The victims, who each bought funds worth between 15 million and 230 million won ($15 million) from a branch of Kookmin Bank in 2007, lost between 4 million and 110 million won when they bought back the funds the following year.

The victims sued the bank in May last year, saying it "violated its duty to protect investors by selling products with excessive investment risks to Ms. Lee, a 60-year-old housewife, without properly explaining them and compensating her for 230 million won in losses." <"The ruling means that banks should be held accountable for selling risky products to people who are not suitable for products with high investment risk ratings," said Kang Rae-hyuk, a lawyer at Hanbyul, the law firm that represented the victims.

hapyry@yna.co.kr