Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Chan-jin said on the 19th that he plans to draw up remedies for the issue of financial holding group chairmen extending their own terms and to conduct inspections of the firms involved.
At a work briefing held at the Government Complex Seoul annex that day, Lee said this in response to President Lee Jae-myung's remark that "a corrupt inner circle has formed in the financial sector, allowing a few to exercise control."
The president said, "These days I am getting a flood of anonymous reports. When some bank selects a president, there's an outpouring like 'someone is a bad person and someone has problems with the selection process.'" The president went on, "The claims are not merely smears arising from competition; there are aspects that are quite plausible," adding, "Because the government said not to intervene directly due to the so-called problem of government-led finance and left it alone, a corrupt 'inner circle' has formed, and a small group keeps taking turns arbitrarily to continue exercising control."
The president said, "It looks like they keep taking turns being bank CEOs and chairmen, moving back and forth and raking it in for 10 or 20 years."
Lee said, "Fundamentally, the independence of board functions is seriously lacking, so boards are generally formed around people connected to the chairman," adding, "Unlike banks, our authority at the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) to inspect, supervise, and sanction financial holding companies is limited."
Lee added, "We will launch a corporate governance improvement task force (TF), prepare remedies in January, and submit a bill," and said, "We are preparing to begin inspections of the financial holding companies where the issue of chairmen extending their own terms has been raised."