The Financial Supervisory Service urged online loan comparison and recommendation platforms to design comparison and recommendation algorithms that prioritize consumer interests.
The FSS noted that on the 9th, it held a meeting with 10 companies, including Naver Pay, Kakao Pay, Toss, Finda, and Bank Salad, to communicate the deficiencies identified in recent on-site inspections.
The FSS found that after analyzing the loan product comparison and recommendation algorithms of major online platforms in March, when interest rates and limits were the same, there was no clear sorting criteria, leading to the display of products with high brokerage fees at the top, sorted by criteria unrelated to consumer benefits.
The FSS emphasized the need to establish additional sorting criteria favorable to consumers under identical interest rate and limit conditions and to periodically check the results to confirm that there are no conflicts of interest. Furthermore, it pointed out the necessity of designing algorithms to ensure that factors that could influence consumer choices are not displayed during the comparison and recommendation process, and to use representative periods and outcome values when utilizing statistical figures.
An FSS official said, 'We will respond strictly to any unhealthy business practices such as arbitrary changes to algorithms or infringements on consumer choice for company profits.'