FSS' first female Senior Deputy Governor appointed

Newly-appointed FSS' Senior Deputy Governor Kim Eun-kyung / Courtesy of Financial Services Commission (FSC)

By Anna J. Park

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has appointed Professor Kim Eun-kyung, 54, from the Law School of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) as the senior deputy governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

The appointment was made during a regular FSC meeting, Wednesday. According to related laws, the appointment of the senior deputy governor ― the second highest position at the FSS ― is made by the FSC, upon the recommendation of the current FSS governor.

The FSS is a public agency that inspects and supervises financial services firms under the supervision of the FSC, a government regulatory authority.

Her three-year term at the FSS will start from March 9 this year and continue until March 8 in 2023.

This is the first time for the FSS to have a female senior deputy governor since the financial authority was launched back in 1999. Having expertise in commercial law, Kim will also assume the role as the chief of the Consumer Finance and Protection Bureau.

The FSC said that her ample experiences in financial regulations and in the area of financial consumer protection make her highly qualified to lead the Financial Consumer Bureau which protects consumers of financial products.

The financial authority also stressed her appointment would provide a positive stimulus in encouraging capable female figures' further promotion to the top in the financial industry.

She earned her doctor's degree in law from Manheim University in Germany, and has been teaching at the Law School of HUFS as a professor since 2006.

Kim has also served on various financial committees, including dispute resolution and public fund oversight committees at the FSC and FSS over the past decade.