South Korea's state financial watchdog said Friday it will tighten the monitoring of unfair or deceptive insurance sale activities in the local market.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) plans to crack down especially on insurance sales agencies involved in irregularities.

The ratio of insurance sales in South Korea via independent sales agencies climbed to 37.8 percent in the first half of this year from 34.3 percent in 2014 and 35.9 percent in 2015, according to its data.

Concern has grown about reports of unfair and incomplete sales practices amid heated competition among agencies and salespersons.

The FSS said it will expand the standing monitoring system against the problem.

It plans to introduce an ombudsman council for the industry and additional indicators of malpractices.

"We will conduct a thorough inspection and impose heavy punishments if illegal and unfair activities are found," Jung Je-yong, an FSS official, said.

A total of 4,530 insurance sales agencies were registered with the FSS as of end-September. (Yonhap)