Naver Financial business in jeopardy over Mirae Asset Daewoo's legal case

South Korea's Naver Financial Corp. could lose its data management business license over prosecutors' ongoing investigation into its second-largest shareholder Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. Ltd.'s compliance with the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, The Chosun Ilbo reported Jan. 8.

The financial services unit of NAVER Corp. was one of the 21 South Korean financial companies that received preliminary licenses to conduct the MyData business using customer data in December 2020.

South Korea's financial regulations regarding licenses, permits and various other types of business approvals require an eligibility test for controlling shareholders. Law violations are among the reasons for disqualification.

According to the regulator's findings, Mirae Asset Daewoo invested about 10 billion won overseas without filing the statutory notification with authorities in early 2020. Such offenses are subject to criminal penalties under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.

The Financial Supervisory Service filed a complaint with prosecutors, and the prosecutors' probe into Mirae Asset Daewoo's foreign exchange deals is ongoing.