Departing Financial Supervisory Service Chief... Neglecting Personnel Measures

Yoon Seok-heon, Financial Supervisory Service Chief, Ends 3-Year Term Today
Successor Not Yet Decided... First Acting System Due to Term Expiration

Yoon Seok-heon, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, is attending the Real Estate Market Inspection Meeting of Related Ministers held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 6th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] Yoon Seok-heon, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), will step down on the 7th as his term expires. A successor has not been decided.

The FSS will hold Yoon's farewell ceremony at 5 p.m. on the same day in the main auditorium of its Yeouido headquarters in Seoul. Yoon became the third FSS governor in history, following former governors Yoon Jeung-hyun and Kim Jong-chang, to complete a full three-year term. Since the selection process for the next governor has not yet been carried out, the FSS will be operated under Acting Governor Kim Geun-ik, the Senior Deputy Governor.

There have been cases where the Senior Deputy Governor acted as governor due to the sudden resignations of former governors Choi Heung-sik (amid hiring corruption allegations) and Kim Ki-sik (amid controversy over overseas trips), but this is the first time an acting system is in place due to term expiration.

For this reason, some criticism has arisen that the government’s “personnel neglect” has been repeated. The FSS governor is appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) chairman after a resolution by the FSC. The FSC did not even discuss any agenda related to the FSS governor appointment at its regular meeting on the 28th of last month, just before Yoon’s term expired. A financial authority official said, "When the term expires, it is an automatic retirement." Inside the FSS, confusion arose over preparations for the farewell ceremony as Yoon’s status had not been decided until the afternoon of the previous day.

Yoon was considered a strong candidate for reappointment until early this year. Given that reappointments were frequent under the current administration, such as Lee Ju-yeol, Governor of the Bank of Korea, and Lee Dong-geol, Chairman of the Korea Development Bank, many inside and outside the FSS expected Yoon’s reappointment. However, in the personnel reshuffle in February this year, the promotion of employees involved in hiring corruption sparked opposition from the labor union, making reappointment uncertain. Additionally, since Yoon’s inauguration, the FSS has imposed a series of disciplinary actions on financial companies, which is also evaluated to have hindered his reappointment due to the “anti” sentiment in the financial sector. Previously, the Blue House maintained a “don’t know” stance until former Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae and former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, who had the worst confrontation in constitutional history, with Yoon voluntarily resigning.

Inside and outside the financial authorities, it is expected that the appointment of the next governor will be decided in conjunction with the replacement of the economic line, including Hong Nam-ki, Minister of Economy and Finance and Deputy Prime Minister. Eun Sung-soo, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, and Koo Yoon-chul, Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, are mentioned as candidates for the new Deputy Prime Minister, and a chain movement may occur depending on additional cabinet reshuffles.

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