SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Yonhap) -- The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Exim Bank) wasted up to 30.1 billion won (US$21.3 million) by fixing the rate of commission paid to investment banks when issuing foreign currency bonds, the state audit agency said Tuesday.

The Exim Bank paid a total of 142.4 billion won in commission to investment banks selected as lead managers, while issuing 47.7 trillion won worth of foreign currency bonds based on the fixed commission rate of 30 basis points over the past five years, according to the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI).

But the bank could have paid less if it had applied different commission rates without fixing it, the auditor said.

After analyzing commission rates that 36 bond issuers with credit ratings similar to that of the Exim Bank paid, the BAI found that the market applied lower commission rates for bonds with shorter maturity or higher issuer credit ratings.

Had the Exim Bank applied different commission rates, the bank could have saved between 8.5 billion won and 30.1 billion won over the past five years, the auditor said.

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