[1mm Financial Talk] Female Leadership at FSC... Seven Directors, the Highest Number

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) recently conducted a director-level personnel reshuffle, increasing the number of female directors from five to seven. This marks a notable rise of women in the FSS, which has traditionally had a male-dominated and conservative atmosphere, signaling a growing 'female breeze (女風)'.

With the personnel appointments announced on the 14th, Jeong Eun-jeong, team leader of the Sanctions Review Department, was promoted to director of the same department, and Kim Hyo-hee, deputy director and team leader of the Accounting Management Department, was promoted to director of the Asset Management Supervision Department, adding two female directors and bringing the total to seven.

In addition, Jang Seong-ok, director of the IT Inspection Department; Won Hee-jeong, director of the Non-life Insurance Inspection Department; Jeong Mi-seon, director of the Mutual Finance Department; Yoon Jeong-sook, director of the Accounting Audit Department 1; and Lee Sang-ah, director of the Financial Education Department, are all women. Female directors are positioned across various sectors including planning and insurance, banking and small-to-medium enterprises, capital markets and accounting, and financial consumer protection.

Previously, among the 63 department heads within the FSS, only 2 to 3 were women, accounting for about 3%. However, after increasing to five last year and adding two more this year, the total number of female directors has risen to seven out of 63, approximately 11%.

An official from the FSS Human Resources Development Office stated, "Although we have never compiled all the data, this is likely the highest number in 20 years," adding, "The proportion of female new hires, which was only 10% two decades ago, has increased to at least 30% over the past five years."

In the executive personnel appointments last May, a female deputy governor was appointed for the first time. Kim Mi-young, director of the Financial Consumer Protection Department, is the first female deputy governor from within the FSS since its establishment. She joined the Bank of Korea and moved to the FSS in 1999, having served as team leader of the Banking Compliance Inspection Department, head of the Anti-Money Laundering Office, and director of the Credit Finance Inspection Department. Deputy Governor Kim also holds the distinction of being the first female inspector and the first female inspection team leader.

Another FSS official remarked, "In the past, when women went out for field inspections, they were sometimes treated like part-time workers, reflecting how rare women were within the FSS," and added, "Recently, female inspectors have been more meticulous in their work, which has made supervised institutions more cautious," highlighting the changed atmosphere.

Meanwhile, this personnel reshuffle involved 13 director and office chief positions. Kim Seong-wook, director of the Human Resources Development Office, moved to become director of the Banking Inspection Department 1, and Jeong Woo-hyun, director of the Financial Market Stabilization Department, became director of the Banking Supervision Department. These positions were previously held by Park Chung-hyun, deputy governor for the banking sector, and Kim Jun-hwan, deputy governor for consumer rights protection, respectively.

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