The Financial Supervisory Service carried out personnel increases in line with its plan to bolster the joint response task force to root out stock price manipulation. As the organization expands under the government's strong stance against unfair trading, the capacity and speed of stock manipulation investigations are expected to strengthen further.
According to the financial investment industry on the 13th, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) created Investigation Department 4 that day and assigned 14 people. The personnel changes announced last week took effect that day. The personnel will be dispatched to the joint response task force to join Team 2, and the task force was reorganized from a single-team system into a two-team system.
This personnel move follows President Lee Jae-myung's instruction at the Financial Services Commission's work briefing in Dec. last year to "consider strengthening functions by creating one or two more teams for the joint investigation team to foster competition." Afterward, the financial authorities released a plan in Jan. this year to expand the joint response task force to eradicate stock price manipulation, announcing staffing increases of 11 at the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and 14 at the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Specifically, one additional team will be added to both the FSC's compulsory investigation unit and the FSS's general investigation unit to operate a two-team system, while the Korea Exchange (KRX) rapid review unit will support both teams jointly. Although the FSC's staffing increase is still underway, with the FSS having acted first, the overall expansion of the task force is expected to be completed soon.
If staffing increases proceed as initially released, the joint response task force, which previously had a total of 37 members—4 from the FSC, 20 from the FSS, and 12 from the Korea Exchange (KRX)—will grow to 62. The task force is currently led by the FSS senior deputy governor as Director General.
Going forward, the FSS plans to assign a total of 29 people to the joint response task force through additional hires. An FSS official said, "Including specialized personnel recently recruited as experienced hires, we plan to assign them sequentially according to the staffing plan."
Meanwhile, the joint response task force to eradicate stock price manipulation, jointly formed by the FSC, the FSS, and the Korea Exchange (KRX), has uncovered cases since its launch in Sept. last year, including Case No. 1 (super-rich price rigging) and Case No. 2 (use of undisclosed material information by a senior executive at a securities firm).
On the 11th of last month, it wrapped up the investigation into Case No. 1 and filed criminal complaints with prosecutors against 11 price-rigging suspects and four related corporations.