'Only 2 Months Left in Term'... Attention Focused on Successor to Head of Korea Capital Market Institute

Shin Jin-young, the first director selected through a public competition
Professor close to the Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman mentioned in speculation

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Despite Shin Jin-young, president of the Korea Capital Market Institute, having two months left in his term, interest in his successor is growing. In the financial investment industry and academia, there is speculation that government influence may be reflected in the appointment of the next president of the Capital Market Institute, especially following the inauguration of Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Byung-hwan, which could broaden the pool of candidates for the successor.

According to the financial investment industry on the 25th, Shin Jin-young's term as president of the Capital Market Institute expires on September 30. As a think tank for the financial investment industry, the Capital Market Institute's status has been growing alongside the recent expansion of the domestic capital market.

The president of the Capital Market Institute is elected by the board of directors. Before the term expires, the board forms a candidate recommendation committee (CRC), holds discussions for about a week, and then the general meeting of members gives the final approval for the successor. Typically, candidates are narrowed down 2 to 3 weeks before the president’s term ends. It is expected that the outline of the successor will become clear as early as the end of August.

The Capital Market Institute was established with contributions from the Korea Exchange, the Korea Financial Investment Association, securities firms, and others, with no government equity stake. Formally, the president is independently decided by the board of directors. However, the consensus is that it is not free from government influence. A representative example is the appointment process of President Shin In-seok in 2014. Shin previously served as a professional committee member of the Presidential Transition Committee under the Park Geun-hye administration and participated in the National Happiness Promotion Committee, which sparked parachute appointment controversies.

In response to such controversies, the Capital Market Institute held its first-ever public recruitment to select a president since its establishment. The person selected through this process was President Shin Jin-young. Some express concerns that government influence might be exerted again.

The presidents of the Capital Market Institute have mainly been professors. The individuals quietly emerging as candidates for Shin’s successor in the capital market are also professors in the field of economics. Among them is a person who participated in President Yoon Seok-yeol’s presidential campaign alongside Kim So-young, the vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission.

Amid this, the reason why attention is focused on the successor to President Shin is that a new Financial Services Commission chairman will soon take office. A financial investment industry official said, "Both the recently mentioned candidates for the president of the Korea Securities Depository and the Capital Market Institute are closely related to the vice chairman, who is an academic. Since the newly appointed Financial Services Commission chairman is an economic bureaucrat, if he strongly controls policy and personnel, the pool of personnel for related institutions such as the Capital Market Institute, the Financial Security Institute, and the Korea Housing Finance Corporation could expand."

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