Some 1.4 trillion won ($1.39 billion) was embezzled and misappropriated at local financial companies over the past four and a half years, with the largest single amount of misused funds increasing, financial data showed Thursday.

Data from the Financial Supervisory Service, submitted to the National Assembly for audit, cited 651 cases of embezzlement, misappropriation and breach of trust by financial corporate officials between 2010 and the first half of 2014.

They accounted for 80 percent of the 818 total cases of financial misconduct over the cited period.

The data showed that breach of trust amounted to 1.05 trillion won, with embezzlement and fraud totaling 213.1 billion won and 189.4 billion won, respectively.

The number of cases of financial misconduct has been on the decline, from 186 cases in 2012 to 167 in 2013, but the amount of money involved surged from 78 billion won to 466.8 billion in the same period.

Market watchers say local financial companies have failed to maintain discipline among their officials who have found it easy to embezzle or misappropriate corporate funds for personal use. (Yonhap)