Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
FSS chief stresses preemptive risk management for market stability
Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Bok-hyun speaks to reporters during a press conference held at the FSS' headquarters in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of the FSS
By Anna J. Park
By Anna J. Park
Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Bok-hyun reiterated his vows to respond preemptively to the economy's internal and external uncertainties, aiming to maintain financial stability amid the increasingly complex situation.
During a press conference on Thursday, which was held to mark the 100th day since his taking the chief position in early June, Governor Lee said the FSS will focus on assessing and managing the potential risk factors of each financial sector.
“The FSS will strengthen its checkups by closely cooperating with related agencies and companies, so that risks of short-term liquidity and real estate finances won't translate into threats to the financial system,” Governor Lee said during the press conference.
“The FSS is currently working with the Bank of Korea to conduct stress tests on financial companies, based on contingency plans jointly drawn up with the central bank, planning to come up with more effective measures to stabilize the market,” he added.
He also stressed the financial regulator will prioritize consumer protections by inducing more responsible management of financial companies. At the same time, the FSS chief stressed that it will seek to support voluntary creativity in the financial industry and ventures that will ultimately yield innovative paradigm shifts of the industry.
Lee explained that the FSS is also actively participating in both domestic and international cooperation to come up with a reasonable regulative framework on digital assets, aiming to strike a balance between consumer protection and cryptocurrency industry growth.
Under Lee's leadership, who used to be a star prosecutor with expertise in large-scale financial crimes and scandals, the FSS is estimated to have strengthened its legal and punitive sides. In the past three months, the FSS enlarged its team on investigating short-selling practices, while investigating suspicious international wires of trillions of won at various local banks during the past year. The financial authority has also strengthened its inspections of financial companies over various counts of suspicious activities.