South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service will expand its probe into banks' hiring irregularities to about 980 nonbanking financial institutions, Asia Today reported Feb. 20, citing FSS Governor Choe Heung-sik.

The watchdog plans to look into hiring practices in the nonbanking financial sector as part of scheduled inspections of internal controls, given the large number of companies in the sector.

In addition, the FSS will use the existing online hotline to obtain whistleblower tips and conduct follow-up investigations.

The FSS in late 2017 reportedly began inspections at domestic banks to look into possible influence-peddling in their hiring practices, looking into cases involving children of current and former executives.

The watchdog is currently preparing best-practice guidelines for employee hiring in the financial services sector.