Financial companies are pushing back against plans to raise deposit insurance fees, warning that a steep increase could put an excessive burden on the industry and ultimately be passed on to customers, industry officials said Thursday. The Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) is currently considering higher deposit insurance rates across financial sectors, which would mark the first increase since 2009. The move follows the government’s decision last September to double the deposit protection limit from 50 million won ($36,000) to 100 million won. The KDIC, which collects fees from financial companies to build a fund used to reimburse depositors when institutions fail, says the industry should shoulder more of the cost as the number of failed financial companies — including dozens of savings banks and MG Non-Life Insurance — has grown over the years. The scale of the proposed increase, however, has become a sticking point. A recent study commissioned by the KDIC estimated that the deposit insurance rate for banks should rise to 0.13 percent of eligible deposit balance from the