[Column] 16 Board Meetings... 15 Held in Writing at Seomin Financial Services Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] It has been confirmed that the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency held 15 out of 16 board meetings last year in writing. This means that executives exchanged key agenda items and discussions through documents. The parent organization, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, pointed out that "efforts to improve governance are required."

Written board meetings are not illegal. Relevant guidelines provide a basis for written board meetings. The Korea Inclusive Finance Agency explained, "Face-to-face meetings were difficult due to COVID-19." However, the principle for public institution boards is face-to-face meetings. "Written board meetings should be operated minimally and only in unavoidable cases." Replacing most of the year's board meetings with written ones is not a responsible attitude.

There is a reason why the government has set face-to-face meetings as the principle for public institution boards. The board is a body that discusses and decides important policy matters within the institution and checks and prevents unilateral management. It is the final procedure to carefully refine policies, prevent possible side effects, and keep a record of the discussion process. This is only possible when hearing the thoughts of the executives who led the policy directly and exchanging opinions.

It is difficult to find productive discussions in the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency’s written board meetings. Among the 15 written board meetings, only one included remarks from participants. Even that was a self-praising evaluation by the standing auditor, stating that "the policy effect of the 햇살론 (Haetsal Loan) card is expected." Microfinance, Haetsal Loan, and mid- to long-term plans, which closely affect the lives of the institution and ordinary people, were passed without much discussion in the written board meetings. The original function of the board was rendered meaningless.

Despite this, the performance bonuses and total salaries of the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency executives are soaring. The head of the institution’s salary last year was 266.29 million KRW. The base salary was 156.61 million KRW, but the budget for this year has been significantly increased to 212 million KRW. The salaries of auditors and directors also exceeded 200 million KRW, and the base salary reflected in the budget proposal increased by more than 40 million KRW.

The government has always pointed to governance first when accidents occur in companies and institutions. This is due to a shared awareness that the background of various accidents lies in systems that failed to prevent them and the responsibility of executives. It is no coincidence that the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), which suffered from speculation allegations, was criticized for replacing half of its 10 board meetings with written ones. Public institution boards must return to their original roles.

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