SEOUL, January 11 (AJP) -South Korean regulators are moving to investigate Coupang’s financial units as part of pan-government scrutiny following the country’s largest-ever data leak, amid criticism over what is seen as a lack of response from the company’s U.S.-based headquarters as its customer base remains largely intact.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) will begin parallel formal inspections of Coupang affiliates that handle financial services . Officials said the regulator decided to upgrade a six-week on-site review of Coupang Pay into a formal inspection starting Monday.
Once an on-site review is converted into a formal inspection, regulators are empowered to impose penalties, including fines, if the inspected company obstructs the process.
Through the inspection, the FSS is expected to examine whether any payment information was exposed at Coupang Pay in connection with the broader Coupang data leak. Industry sources said Coupang Pay has not yet submitted relevant materials, leaving regulators unable to confirm whether payment data were compromised.
The inspection will also review whether information sharing among Coupang affiliates violated laws such as the Credit Information Act and the Electronic Financial Transactions Act.
The FSS appears to be seeking faster cooperation, viewing document submissions from Coupang as excessively delayed, according to industry officials.
On the same day, the FSS will also convert its on-site review of Coupang Financial into a formal inspection. Regulators plan to examine the appropriateness of interest-rate calculations and potential violations of the Financial Consumer Protection Act related to the “Seller Growth Loan,” a lending product offered to merchants operating on Coupang’s platform.
Its loans are said to be charging excessively high interest rates, averaging 14.1 percent annually and reaching as high as 18.9 percent. By comparison, the highest average rate among merchant-dedicated loans offered by another major platform company through financial institutions last year stood at 12.4 percent.
According to FSS materials submitted to the office of Rep. Kang Min-kuk of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, Coupang Financial issued 18.174 billion won ($13.5 million) in Seller Growth Loans over roughly five months.
As of the end of last year, the outstanding balance totaled 13.414 billion won. Since the product’s launch in July, Coupang Financial’s interest income from the loans is estimated to amount to several billion won.
Regulators are expected to scrutinize whether Coupang’s market power as a dominant platform enabled it to charge excessively high rates, and whether a product structured with settlement payments as collateral was marketed in a manner similar to an unsecured credit loan.
An FSS official said the agency plans to review “the appropriateness of loan-rate calculations and whether relevant laws, including the Financial Consumer Protection Act, were followed throughout the loan process.”
Despite the fallout from the data leak, indicators suggest Coupang’s user base has remained resilient.
According to MobileIndex data from IGAWorks, the number of new installations of the Coupang app totaled 526,834 in December, the highest monthly figure last year. The total was more than 120,000 higher than in November and marked the first time monthly installations exceeded 500,000 since March 2024.
The figures run counter to expectations of a mass user departure following the data leak, which surfaced in late November. Industry analysts point to year-end shopping demand, intensified marketing and entrenched consumer habits as factors supporting continued app usage.
Coupang’s dawn-delivery service and membership-based “lock-in” structure are also seen as reinforcing customer retention, even as scrutiny of the company’s data governance and regulatory compliance intensifies across government agencies.
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