With Kwon Dae-young, Vice Chair of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), appointed as First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, attention is turning to who will be selected as the FSC's "No. 2" to take over from the newly appointed vice minister. If internal promotions continue in a manner similar to that of Vice Minister Kwon, there are also predictions of a chain of personnel changes among Grade-1 senior positions at the FSC by year-end.
According to financial regulatory authorities on the 1st, speculation is rising that appointments for successors to senior FSC positions may accelerate after President Lee Jae-myung appointed Vice Chair Kwon as First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the same day. This is because if an internal promotion follows in the wake of Vice Minister Kwon's appointment, one of the four Grade-1 officials at the FSC could be selected for the role.
Currently, there are four Grade-1 officials who are internal FSC appointees: Shin Jin-chang, Director-General of the Secretariat (40th Civil Service Examination), Ahn Chang-guk, FSC Commissioner (41st), Park Min-woo, Securities and Futures Commission Commissioner (40th), and Lee Hyung-joo, FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit) head (39th). Considering that Shin was promoted internally to Vice Chair under the Lee Jae-myung administration after serving as Director-General of the Secretariat, there are forecasts that Director-General Shin has a high probability of being promoted to the successor Vice Chair position.
However, past FSC Vice Chairs have often been filled by individuals from academia or research institutes, such as former Vice Chair Kim So-young, who was appointed as the FSC's No. 2 during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration while serving as a professor at Seoul National University. Accordingly, some in the financial sector are also discussing the possibility of appointing multiple academics, including Kang Kyung-hoon, a professor at Dongguk University, who has been active in the Democratic Party of Korea's election strategy camp.
Since the successor appointment for Vice Minister Kwon was not carried out simultaneously on the 1st, senior FSC personnel changes may only begin to gain momentum around year-end. In particular, if a Vice Chair is selected from within the FSC, a "storm" of Grade-1 personnel changes could occur.
Lee threw his hat into the ring for the next head of Nonghyup Bank last month. The Nonghyup Bank President Recommendation Committee cast 3 votes for current bank president Shin Hak-gi and 2 votes for Director Lee on the 22nd of last month, failing to reach the minimum 4 votes required to select a new president. As the selection of the Nonghyup Bank president is being delayed, the scope of senior FSC personnel changes may vary depending on Director Lee's future moves.
In addition, the term of Lee Se-hoon, Senior Deputy Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), expires at the end of December, which is another variable. Most past FSS Senior Deputy Governors, including Senior Deputy Governor Lee, have been appointed from among FSC Grade-1 officials. If an FSC Grade-1 official moves to the position of FSS Senior Deputy Governor this time as well, the scope of senior FSC personnel changes will expand further. Moreover, FSC Grade-1 officials are consistently being rumored as candidates for the next head of Korea Capital Market Development Institute (KCMI).
The larger the scope of FSC Grade-1 personnel changes, the more momentum may be gained for chain promotions at the director-general level. A financial regulatory authority official said, "The FSC is not large compared to other government ministries, so personnel stagnation has been severe and appointments have often been delayed in the past. However, it appears that unusually large-scale personnel moves are likely to occur by at least year-end this year."
in FINANCE
