The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) will return 55 billion won in contributions to the financial sector this month.
According to financial industry sources on Wednesday, the FSS will return 54.9 billion won—the difference between total revenue and total expenditure last year—to banks, insurers, securities firms and other financial institutions. Financial companies pay annual supervisory contributions to the FSS in exchange for regulatory examinations, and the surplus is being refunded.
The large-scale refund stems from increased revenue from issuance contributions. Authorities had projected 105.8 billion won in issuance contribution revenue, which is levied when securities are issued. However, the stock market boom drove a surge in initial public offerings, resulting in actual collections of 146.2 billion won—40.4 billion won more than expected. Approximately 15 billion won came from unspent budget allocations.
Under the enforcement decree of the Financial Services Commission Act, the FSS is required to return excess revenue and unspent funds to contribution-paying institutions. Based on payment ratios, 49.9 billion won will be returned to supervisory contribution payers and 5 billion won to issuance contribution payers.