Financial Sector Leaders Lose Sleep Over Weekend Amid Crisis Hitting the Market

Eun Seong-su, Financial Services Commission Chairman, Sacrifices Holiday
Yoon Seok-heon, Financial Supervisory Service Chief, Implements Daily Inspection System
Son Tae-seung, Chairman, Declares Emergency Management
Cho Yong-byeong, Chairman, Holds C-Level Meeting

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] As the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) escalates into a pandemic, financial sector leaders are staying up all night, repeatedly calling for emergency measures. They are busy around the clock monitoring the rapidly changing domestic and international financial markets, overseeing support for small and medium-sized enterprises as well as small business owners and self-employed individuals, and devising countermeasures in response to interest rate cuts.

According to the financial sector on the 18th, Eun Sung-soo, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, is currently overwhelmed as if he had two bodies. Due to the severe volatility in domestic and international stock markets caused by the COVID-19 impact, early morning arrivals and late-night work have become routine. Since entering a government-wide financial support mode, he has long given up weekends and holidays. All schedules revolve around the COVID-19 situation, receiving updates on market fluctuations throughout the day, holding daily financial market review meetings, and focusing all efforts on preparing support measures. Chairman Eun requested yesterday that preparations be thorough so that market stabilization measures and stock market supply-demand stabilization plans under the contingency plan can be immediately activated. He plans to personally preside over daily market review meetings before the stock market opens until stability is restored.

Yoon Seok-heon, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, has decided to operate a daily inspection system personally presiding over it until market instability subsides to continuously monitor risk factors and respond immediately. This is based on the judgment that the impact of COVID-19 on the real economy may last longer than expected. This is a step further from last month’s expansion and establishment of an emergency response organization chaired by Senior Deputy Governor Yoo Kwang-yeol. A daily reporting system with financial institutions has already been established. A 'hotline' was created to enable immediate action if problems arise at financial companies. Governor Yoon also emphasized yesterday, "We must prepare measures in advance to cope with the worst-case scenario."

Son Tae-seung, Chairman of Woori Financial Group, recently declared 'emergency management' and established a new response organization chaired by himself. The Emergency Management Committee, the group’s crisis management control tower, consists of the Strategy General Team, Financial Management Team, Risk Management Team, and Market Sensing Team. Through this, they will conduct scenario checks, adjust and manage management goals, actively cooperate with financial authorities, propose policies, and explore various customer support measures to respond even to extreme crisis situations such as activating foreign currency contingency plans. The existing 'COVID-19 Response Committee' focuses on infection prevention measures, execution checks, and securing business continuity for group companies.

Cho Yong-byeong, Chairman of Shinhan Financial Group, has been holding a so-called 'C-level meeting' personally since the 12th. This comprehensive situation briefing meeting, attended by C-level executives such as the group’s CEO, CFO, CSO, and CRO, monitors financial market and industry trends and will continue until the COVID-19 issue stabilizes. Based on macroeconomic indicators such as interest rates, oil prices, exchange rates, stock indices, financial market growth rates, and group performance fluctuations, they plan to diagnose the financial market situation and review business strategy adjustments.

Yoon Jong-kyu, Chairman of KB Financial Group, established a group-wide emergency management committee on the 24th of last month, shortly after the government raised the infectious disease national crisis level to 'serious.' Chaired by Yoon, the organization consists of CEOs of seven affiliates including banking, securities, non-life insurance, and card companies, as well as holding company executives. Recently, as the global economy and financial markets have been highly volatile raising concerns about asset quality deterioration, an asset management strategy committee was convened urgently to review market conditions. Investment strategies by bank, securities, and research centers were also reexamined.

Kim Jung-tae, Chairman of Hana Financial Group, convened an emergency meeting with group company CEOs and group heads to emphasize crisis management measures. On the 16th, the Group Crisis Situation Management Council was formed to diagnose the COVID-19 situation and establish response plans. Earlier, Hana Bank had formed an emergency response committee in January consisting of 13 executives including Bank President Ji Sung-kyu.

A financial sector official said, "The current situation is truly an emergency facing a complex crisis where volatility in domestic and international financial markets is increasing while shocks to the real economy are occurring simultaneously. There are even assessments that the situation is more severe than during the 2008 global financial crisis, prompting financial sector leaders to establish emergency management systems and prepare response measures themselves."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.