FSS Employees Maintain Strong Opposition to Separation of Consumer Protection Bureau... Hopes for Chief Lee's Direct Intervention

Concerns Over Weakened Financial Oversight and Institutional Discipline
Expectations for Chief Lee to Convey Employees' Views to the President

There remains strong opposition within the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) to the plan to separate the Financial Consumer Protection Bureau. Among employees, there are calls for FSS chief Lee Chanjin to directly convey the necessity of keeping the bureau intact to the president after his return to Korea.

Lee Chanjin, the newly appointed Financial Supervisory Service chief, is entering the inauguration ceremony held at the Financial Supervisory Service in Yeouido, Seoul on the 14th. Photo by Yonhap News

According to the FSS on the 26th, a regular executive meeting is scheduled to be held at 10 a.m. that day. Fifteen people, including Chief Lee, Senior Deputy Governor Lee Sehoon, deputy governors, and assistant deputy governors, will attend the meeting. However, the Planning and Strategy Headquarters, which is in charge of organizational restructuring, has decided not to put the separation of the bureau on the agenda. A high-ranking FSS official stated, "Discussions related to organizational restructuring are not included in the agenda for this meeting."

Recently, there has been speculation both inside and outside the FSS that Chief Lee may directly communicate the irrationality of separating the bureau to the president after his return. After Chief Lee announced that he would address "important matters" and "serious issues" at the executive meeting on the 20th, some even speculated that an unofficial executive meeting might be held. However, multiple FSS officials cautioned against overinterpretation, saying, "There was never any plan for an unofficial meeting." They expressed concerns that holding a separate meeting for a specific agenda item could be perceived as the FSS's "official position."

FSS employees and the labor union continue to oppose the separation of the bureau. They cite concerns such as weakened ability to handle financial accidents, as seen in the response to the Hong Kong equity-linked securities (ELS) incident; diminished supervisory and inspection functions; and the potential for conflict with the newly established Financial Consumer Protection Agency.

The bureau itself has not issued an official statement. Even during the final work report presented to Chief Lee the previous day, the issue of organizational restructuring was not mentioned. An FSS official who attended the meeting said, "There was no related discussion during the work report."

Another FSS official said, "There are many rumors, which is causing confusion," but added, "There are also voices hoping that the chief will directly convey the opinions of the staff to the presidential office."

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