Over 100 Days and Four Visits to Banks... Lee Bok-hyun, Financial Supervisory Service Chief's 'On-Site Management'

Lee Bok-hyun, Financial Supervisory Service Chief, Visits Woori Bank Jongno 4-ga Financial Center
Just Over 100 Days Since Inauguration, Fourth Visit to Commercial Banks
Emphasizes Cooperation with FSS Policies and Minimizing Various Noises
Lee Bok-hyun: "Banks Should Also Review Support Measures to Be Helpful"

Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service

Lee Bok-hyun, the Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), is carrying out an overwhelmingly larger number of on-site schedules compared to previous governors, demonstrating a “management by walking around” approach. This is interpreted as a strategy to effectively implement FSS policies while listening to the voices of private financial companies and financially vulnerable groups in the field.

On the 4th, Governor Lee visited the Woori Bank Jongno 4-ga Financial Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. The visit was made to encourage the bank’s efforts to support loan maturity extensions and interest repayment deferrals, and to directly hear the difficulties faced by self-employed individuals.

Governor Lee said, “Economic and financial conditions such as the three highs (high interest rates, high prices, and high exchange rates) are deteriorating, so it is regrettable that it may take some time to fully recover to pre-COVID levels,” adding, “The FSS, together with related ministries, is actively implementing livelihood support measures such as the New Start Fund and financial sector loan maturity extension and repayment deferral support plans.”

Governor Lee’s visits to commercial banks mark the fourth, following Shinhan Bank (July), KB Kookmin Bank (September), and DGB Daegu Bank (September). Including traditional market visits during holidays and meetings with local small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners, which have been conducted as a custom, the actual number of on-site schedules is even higher. This is more frequent compared to previous governors who emphasized communication.

Governor Lee’s frequent on-site visits are seen as efforts to ensure smooth policy implementation by the FSS. Considering the weight of a visit by the FSS governor, banks have incentives to quickly cooperate with government policies. Former Governor Jin Woong-seop also visited the KB Kookmin Bank Yeouido main branch sales department in March 2016 to encourage the launch of the Individual Savings Account (ISA), and former Governor Yoon Seok-heon visited the KB Kookmin Bank Sadang-dong branch to promote COVID-19 financial support.

Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Bok-hyun visited the Shinhan Bank Namdaemun branch in Jung-gu, Seoul on July 14 and consulted with customers at the loan counter. On that day, Governor Lee encouraged the bank's efforts to support vulnerable borrowers and listened to field opinions on the difficulties faced by self-employed individuals. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Governor Lee’s visit to Shinhan Bank was arranged about ten days after Shinhan Bank announced a drastic reduction in mortgage loan interest rates. At that time, Shinhan Bank announced it would reduce the loan interest rate for mortgage customers with rates over 5% per annum to 5% per annum for one year. Following this announcement and Governor Lee’s branch visit, other banks also implemented interest rate reduction measures for vulnerable groups, contrary to the base rate hikes.

At the meeting with Lee Won-duk, President of Woori Bank, and merchants from Gwangjang Market, cooperation with government policies was also emphasized. Governor Lee said, “Government-level measures alone have limitations in overcoming the crisis, so it is a time when active support efforts from the financial sector itself, such as maturity extensions through voluntary agreements with borrowers, are necessary,” adding, “In this regard, I hope banks carefully ensure that support measures work effectively and provide real help to customers.”

There is also an interpretation that this is to minimize noise arising during the implementation of major policies while listening to voices from the field. Former Governor Lee mentioned “banks’ interest profiteering” at his first meeting with the financial sector after taking office, which sparked controversy over government-controlled finance. Later, he said, “If we had talked more, there might have been relatively less misunderstanding or criticism,” and “Over time, it seems that mutual understanding of the intentions behind FSS policies has increased.”

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