Three Directors at the Financial Services Commission are expected to resign this year, citing moves to securities firms. As demand grows for personnel from the financial authorities, more civil servants are moving to financial companies.
According to the financial sector on the 14th, Financial Services Commission Directors A and B are moving to Meritz Securities and Samsung Securities, respectively. The two are 49th class peers from the higher civil service exam and have worked in divisions including industrial finance and capital markets. Director C is also reportedly set to resign, and Director D is said to have applied for external education and training.
The Financial Services Commission is small compared with other ministries, with around 10 people per class, but its workload has grown since the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration, taking on duties such as managing the 150 trillion won Public Growth Fund. If four FSC Directors leave at once, it is expected to significantly affect task allocation and personnel operations. The scale of personnel changes for FSC director-level posts scheduled for the end of this month is also expected to expand.
Meritz Securities and Samsung Securities are awaiting authorization reviews for issuance of promissory notes (short-term finance business). Major securities firms won authorization for promissory notes last year, but approvals for Meritz Securities and Samsung Securities are being delayed. Meritz Securities set up a government relations team this year, and Samsung Securities in Dec. last year hired Song Hyeon-do, former FSC Director of Innovation, as head of planning.
The joint response team formed after President Lee Jae-myung's remarks about "ruining stock manipulators" expanding its probe is also cited as a reason boosting demand for personnel from the financial authorities. From 2023 through last year, 13 former FSC officials applied to the Public Service Ethics Committee for job reviews to change jobs, and two moved to securities firms—IBK Investment & Securities in 2023 and Samsung Securities last year. After the president's remarks on ruining stock manipulators, five people at the Financial Supervisory Service also moved to securities firms.
A reduction in available posts for senior FSC officials is also cited as a background for the moves. Korea Development Bank appointed Park Sang-jin, its first internal candidate, as chair, and the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation named attorney Kim Sung-sik, a 28th class peer of the president in the national bar exam, as president.