South Korea's financial watchdog has uncovered a series of malpractices by some of the country's largest banks and brokers, involving the misrepresentation of risky China-linked structured products to retail investors, including many retirees. The investigation revealed that these financial institutions sold products such as Snowball structures linked to the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) and the Hang Seng Index (HSI) without fully disclosing the risks, especially notable as the market dropped 20%, exposing investors to significant downside risks. This has led to discussions about the potential banning of all equity-linked securities in response to these findings.