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| (사진=국민연금공단) |
[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] The National Pension Service disciplined 93 fund management headquarters that invested in Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) during working hours.
The National Pension Service released a press release on the 10th. Earlier, a media outlet reported that 93 executives and employees of the National Pension Service's fund management headquarters violated internal regulations and made large-scale stock trading. However, the audit results mentioned in the article are about 'ETF trading during working hours' and are not related to stock trading.
According to the fund management's internal control regulations, executives and employees related to fund management are prohibited from selling listed and unlisted stocks at home and abroad, but they are allowed to trade in reserve funds and comprehensive management accounts (CMA).
In particular, unlike stocks that are banned from trading, ETF is a fund product that follows the market index that does not cause conflicts of interest with funds, and other financial institutions allow executives and employees to invest in ETF. However, ETF transactions during business hours are a violation of industrial regulations.
The National Pension Service inspected ETF transactions for one year and seven months (excluding from noon to 1 p.m.) from Jan. 1, 2020 to July 31, 2021 through a self-audit in March last year, and inspected the same issue again at the Office for Government Policy Coordination in May of the same year.
According to its own investigation, the corporation took disciplinary measures, including suspension, against 14 employees who traded ETF financial products and other products during working hours. It also issued a confirmation letter and oral warning to traders less than three times a month. However, a special audit by the Ministry of Health and Welfare determined that it was insufficient and took corrective action.
As a result, the corporation imposed punitive education on 79 people who traded financial instruments during working hours but did not take separate measures due to the small number of transactions to supplement the measures.
"We will make more efforts to enhance transparency in our operations by complying with related laws," said an official at the National Pension Service's fund management headquarters.
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