Kim Byung-hwan Appointed as Financial Services Commission Chairman: "Resolving Four Major Risks Including Real Estate PF and Household Debt"

Official Inauguration on the 31st

Kim Byung-hwan, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, officially took office on the 31st. In his inaugural speech, he emphasized market stability, market discipline, and market discovery, pledging to work towards improving the lives of the people.

Chairman Kim stated that finance and markets cannot be considered separately and stressed the need to complement market failures. He said, “Markets develop based on private freedom and innovation, but they inevitably carry volatility and instability due to greed, fear, herding, and avoidance,” adding, “The Financial Services Commission must act as a market stabilizer, ensuring maximum market creativity while addressing market failures.”

He viewed financial market stability as the most important mission of the Financial Services Commission. He emphasized the need to resolve accumulated insolvencies and prevent the expansion of new risks, stating, “We will swiftly address the four major risks currently faced: real estate project financing (PF), household debt, loans to self-employed individuals, and the soundness of the secondary financial sector.”

In particular, regarding household debt, he expressed a commitment to manage it thoroughly with vigilance by preparing a “meticulous response plan” in advance to prevent risk expansion amid expectations of interest rate cuts and a recovery in the real estate market. He also mentioned seeking ways to activate equity financing by sector (unlike debt financing, this involves companies raising funds by selling ownership stakes such as stocks) to move away from a structure overly dependent on debt.

Chairman Kim stated that any market participant who unlawfully or unfairly profits must face corresponding sanctions or penalties, emphasizing the need to “establish market discipline.” He added that they will analyze illegal and unfair practices by financial sectors?such as incomplete sales, illegal private financing, illegal short selling, and unfair trading?to strengthen both preventive measures and post-violation sanctions.

He also highlighted that domestic and international conditions are rapidly changing, with new markets emerging due to digital transformation, demographic changes, climate crisis, and supply chain restructuring. Chairman Kim said, “We will comprehensively review financial regulations and boldly remove those that do not fit the changed environment,” and “We will actively create necessary systems.”

He conveyed a message to the Financial Services Commission officials, urging them to approach their work from the perspective of consumers. “We must not forget that the ultimate customers of our policies are the many financial consumers who use financial services, such as households, small business owners, and companies. We need to think again from their standpoint and formulate policies accordingly,” he said. He also urged that rather than just creating policies, they must deliver benefits to the public through implementation and consider alternatives beyond finance.

Chairman Kim stated, “Compared to other ministries, the Financial Services Commission is small in scale, so to drive change, we must become a ‘small but capable elite unit.’” He pledged, “We will boldly reduce unnecessary, redundant, and formalistic tasks and do our best to focus our capabilities on improving the lives of the people.”

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