FSC chief to meet ambassadors of India, ASEAN nations

Bank CEOs and ambassadors of India and ASEAN member countries pose after an annual meeting at the Korea Federation of Banks' headquarters in Seoul in this 2018 file photo. Financial Services Commission Chairman Eun Sung-soo, second row fourth from right, attended the event when he was serving as the Export-Import Bank of Korea CEO. / Courtesy of KFB

By Park Jae-hyuk

Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Eun Sung-soo will participate in the Korea Federation of Banks' (KFB) meeting with the ambassadors of India and 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to bank officials, Sunday.

The federation said the meeting will be held after its monthly board meeting on Oct. 28.

In addition to Eun, attendees will reportedly include the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Yoon Suk-heun, KFB Chairman Kim Tae-young and heads of state-run and commercial banks.

Eun has yet to make an appearance at KFB's events, since he took office in September.

If he participates in the meeting with ambassadors of the “New Southern nations,” it will also be his first official meeting with bankers in his capacity as the top financial regulator.

Although the FSC and the KFB said his attendance has yet to be fixed, Eun hinted that he would be joining the event, saying he will meet with bank CEOs “in the near future.”

“When new FSC or FSS heads take office, they have the chance to have tea at the KFB headquarters, so I think I will meet bank CEOs on such occasions,” he told reporters at the Credit Finance Association headquarters, Monday. “If the CEOs ask me to meet them, there is no reason to avoid meeting them in October or November.”

In 2018, he took part in the meeting with the ambassadors when he was serving as the Export-Import Bank of Korea CEO.

The KFB has annually hosted meetings with ambassadors of 10 ASEAN nations ― Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos and Brunei ― since 2015 in order to boost financial ties with Southeast Asia.

Starting from 2018, the ambassador of India to Korea has also joined the meeting, as Korean banks have begun expanding their presences in the world's second-most populous market.

During the forthcoming meeting, the financial authorities and the ambassadors are expected to talk about the government's New Southern policy of strengthening cooperation with India and Southeast Asian countries.

They will likely discuss Korean fintech firms' entries into the Southeast Asian market as well.