IBK chief's leadership put to test by fraud accidents, relocation row

Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) CEO Chang Min-young is facing a test of his leadership amid a series of fraud cases and growing tensions with the bank's labor union over a potential relocation. According to documents obtained by Rep. Shin Dong-wook of the People Power Party from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and IBK on Wednesday, the state-run lender failed to immediately detect a real estate loan fraud case last year, despite receiving a police search warrant detailing the alleged scheme. The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency sent IBK a search warrant and a request for cooperation on Sept. 24, 2025. The warrant said a real estate developer and brokers had allegedly used falsified sales contracts and down-payment records to obtain 965 million won ($722,000) in loans from the lender. IBK received the warrant but did not immediately recognize the case as financial fraud. The bank only identified it as a fraud case on Oct. 2, after the FSS asked it to confirm the police investigation. Even after reporting the fraud to the regulators, IBK extended an additional 1.9 billion won loan