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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Ellie Kim] Shinyoung Securities saw customer complaints surge more than 45-fold last year, topping the industry in both total complaints and growth rate, according to data released by the Financial Supervisory Service.
The firm recorded 930 complaints in 2025, up sharply from just 20 cases in 2024. On a normalized basis, complaints per 100,000 active accounts reached 158—far exceeding peers such as Meritz Securities, NH Investment & Securities, and Kiwoom Securities, which all reported fewer than 10 cases.
The spike was largely attributed to a trading system outage in November, when the firm’s mobile trading platform experienced disruptions for about an hour, preventing some investors from executing trades during a highly volatile IPO debut.
The incident coincided with the first trading day of Green Optical, for which Shinyoung served as the IPO underwriter, amplifying investor frustration as share prices surged sharply.
While the outage was later linked to a telecom network issue rather than the firm’s internal systems, criticism over inadequate system stability management persisted.
Shinyoung offered compensation of KRW 47,000 per share—well above the typical volume-weighted average price (VWAP) benchmark—marking one of the highest payouts for such incidents.
The company maintains that the surge in complaints reflects a one-off event rather than structural issues and expects figures to normalize as disputes are resolved through mediation.
However, the case has raised broader concerns about investor protection and the need for stronger IT infrastructure and internal controls across the financial industry.
Alphabiz Ellie Kim 인턴기자(press@alphabiz.co.kr)
