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Toss Bank (Photo: Toss Bank) |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Toss Bank has disclosed that its recent Japanese yen exchange rate error—widely dubbed the “half-price yen” incident—resulted in a financial incident totaling 27.66 billion won (approximately $20 million), with an estimated loss of 1.25 billion won.
According to financial industry sources on March 25, Toss Bank announced the figures in a regulatory filing the previous day. The total incident amount reflects the gross impact at the time of occurrence, while the estimated loss represents the net figure after expected recoveries.
The estimated loss accounts for roughly 1.2% of the bank’s provisional net profit of 101.9 billion won last year, suggesting limited direct financial impact. However, the incident has raised concerns over internal controls and could undermine customer trust.
The error was discovered during internal monitoring after the fact. Toss Bank said that between 7:29 p.m. and 7:36 p.m. on March 10, an exchange rate error occurred in its foreign currency account system, applying a rate roughly half of the actual value.
At the time, the yen was trading at around 932 won per 100 yen, but was incorrectly quoted at approximately 472 won. This allowed some users to purchase yen at artificially low rates and then convert them back into Korean won, generating arbitrage opportunities.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
