This year, Toss Securities, which experienced consecutive computer errors in the first half of the year, separately announced measures for handling computer failures and procedures for compensation for customers. After nearly 10 computer errors occurred in Toss Securities in the first half of the year, it seems to have proposed clear compensation standards to reduce investor confusion and work on restoring trust.

Toss Securities logo. /Courtesy of Toss Securities

On the 7th of this month, Toss Securities posted 'computer failure handling measures' on its official site, providing detailed guidance on how to respond if investors' trading orders were not executed due to computer issues, as well as points to note when applying for compensation.

There are no major differences in the compensation-related content added compared to other securities firms. However, while securities firms generally create separate pages on their websites to explain compensation criteria related to computer failures, Toss Securities has gone further by directly notifying customers.

It also specified the compensation processing period. Toss Securities stated that if a compensation claim is necessary due to damages from computer errors, it should be filed without delay with the Toss Securities customer center, and that results would be communicated to customers within 14 business days. However, the investor must retain evidence, such as order records, and documentation of the range of compensation.

Some believe Toss Securities announced the compensation procedures separately to clarify customer responses due to increasing complaints from customers about frequent computer errors.

In fact, each time an error occurred, in the stock community within Toss Securities, there were discussions among investors regarding compensation standards and scope, with queries like, 'How should we ask the customer center for compensation?' 'What evidence do we need to prove our losses?' and 'Shouldn't we be compensated for not being able to sell in time, resulting in losses?'

In this announcement, Toss Securities emphasized in bold that opportunity costs arising from adverse price fluctuations in stocks are not subject to compensation.

Toss Securities announces the measures for addressing the system outage. /Courtesy of Toss Securities official website

Toss Securities experienced seven computer failures just in the first half of the year. Starting with a program error on Feb. 11, subsequent issues occurred on March 11, March 19, April 25, May 9, and May 12, involving system errors lasting less than an hour. On the 16th of last month, there was also an error that delayed chart and daily price queries by 30 minutes.

Since launching overseas stock trading services in 2021, Toss Securities has shown rapid growth. In the first quarter of this year, Toss Securities' revenue from overseas stock commissions reached 86.7 billion won, ranking second after Mirae Asset Securities (97.6 billion won). The gap with Mirae Asset Securities, which was about 27.8 billion won last year, has also narrowed to around 10 billion won.

However, as investor inconvenience continues due to frequent computer failures, there have been ongoing criticisms that systems management is insufficient compared to rapid growth. Toss Securities has internal regulations for investor protection, including 'financial consumer protection standards' and 'guidelines for processing compensation for online service computer failures.'

An official from Toss Securities said, 'This announcement is a reorganization of the existing guidance related to failures, and it should be understood as part of efforts to strengthen customer protection,' adding, 'There is no special reason or new content added.'

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