[1mm Financial Talk] "Cannot Disclose Financial Supervisory Service Chief's Travel Expenses" FSS Rushes to National Assembly

Photo from the joint Singapore IR event in the financial sector. From the left: Won Jong-gyu, CEO of Korean Re; Jung Il-moon, President of Korea Investment & Securities; Ham Young-joo, Chairman of Hana Financial Group; Choi Hoon, Ambassador to Singapore; Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service; Yoon Jong-kyu, Chairman of KB Financial Group; Choi Hyun-man, Chairman of Mirae Asset Securities; Hong Won-hak, CEO of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance.

"The principle is to keep it confidential to avoid unnecessary controversy." Recently, a member's office of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee experienced a somewhat embarrassing situation when requesting materials about Lee Bok-hyun, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor's business trip to Southeast Asia last May. The director and team leader of the FSS International Affairs Bureau, who accompanied the trip, personally visited the member's office and pleaded that the trip expenses could not be disclosed.

The FSS explained to the member's office that Governor Lee's trip expenses were at a normal level, but requested confidentiality on the grounds that disclosing the total expenses could cause unnecessary controversy. They also added that the FSS has never disclosed business trip expenses even once to date. A representative from the member's office said, "It is natural to request business trip expenses from supervised institutions, but the explanation is difficult to accept."

In fact, government ministries and public institutions transparently disclose travel expenses such as fares and accommodation fees through systems like the Overseas Business Trip Training Information System. The FSS, as a capital-free special corporation under the Financial Services Commission, has no legal obligation to disclose business trip expenses. However, since it is an institution with the character of a 'government' that supervises financial companies, there are calls for transparent disclosure of overseas business trip expenses as well.

Moreover, the overseas investment (IR) trip led personally by the FSS Governor was quite unusual and attracted public attention. Governor Lee visited three Southeast Asian countries?Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia?from May 8 to 12 for the purpose of attracting overseas investment. The trip was accompanied by CEOs of six financial companies, including KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyu, Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo, Mirae Asset Securities Chairman Choi Hyun-man, Korea Investment & Securities CEO Jung Il-moon, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance CEO Hong Won-hak, and Korean Re CEO Won Jong-gyu.

According to materials received by Asia Economy through the office of Oh Ki-hyung, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, there have been a total of 22 FSS IR trips for the purpose of attracting overseas investment over the past eight years from 2015 to April this year, all attended by senior deputy governors or bureau chiefs.

In particular, during Governor Lee's trip, the Soci?t? G?n?rale (SG) Securities stock manipulation scandal broke out, leading to criticism from the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee that the FSS Governor was absent during a chaotic time and that accompanying CEOs of supervised financial companies on overseas trips was inappropriate.

Governor Lee, seemingly aware of the various controversies, recently explained at a press briefing, "The difficulties Korean financial companies face locally can be communicated through 'government-to-government' channels, and there is a big difference between face-to-face meetings and paper communication." He added, "In the case of the SG incident, a joint investigation team was quickly formed, and I played several behind-the-scenes roles such as the arrest of the main culprit. I apologized to the Political Affairs Committee members, but please understand that there were circumstances before and after."

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