Eun Sung-soo, Financial Services Commission Chairman, "There Is Absolutely No Conflict with the Financial Supervisory Service"

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Eun Sung-soo, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, and Yoon Seok-heon, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, are attending the Macroeconomic Financial Meeting held at the Bankers' Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 14th, exchanging opinions. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] Eun Sung-soo, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, made a candid statement on the 14th regarding rumors of conflict between the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service.

After attending the Macroeconomic Financial Meeting held in the conference room of the Korea Federation of Banks in Jung-gu, Seoul, Eun told reporters, “The Financial Supervisory Service and the Financial Services Commission are partners working together,” and added, “There is absolutely no conflict between the institutions.”

He was initially asked only about financial sector measures related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), but at the end, he voluntarily said, “We need to have meetings about the Derivative Linked Fund (DLF) going forward,” and emphasized, “What I really want to say is, please do not interpret it. Don’t interpret it left or right, just report it as it is.”

He continued, “I was just talking and communicating with Director Yoon Seok-heon (Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service), so please write exactly as it is,” stressing the point.

This clearly revealed his discomfort regarding rumors of conflict between the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service over issues such as the DLF and Lime Asset Management incidents.

Earlier, on the 12th, the Securities and Futures Commission under the Financial Services Commission held a meeting and significantly reduced the fines imposed by the Financial Supervisory Service’s disciplinary committee on Woori Bank and Hana Bank for the DLF case. The fines initially imposed were 23 billion KRW for Woori Bank and 26 billion KRW for Hana Bank, but the Securities and Futures Commission lowered them to 19 billion KRW and 16 billion KRW, respectively.

In this context, there were rumors in the financial sector that the Financial Supervisory Service and the Financial Services Commission might have differing views during the disciplinary process for the DLF case.

Regarding this, Chairman Eun emphasized, “You can judge the amount of the fines, but there is absolutely no conflict between the institutions.”

He added, “It’s the same with Lime. When the Lime incident broke out, we (the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service) gathered and said, ‘We will work together on this issue. I will take responsibility first, so the Financial Supervisory Service should closely manage it,’” and said, “The Financial Supervisory Service took responsibility and I said I would take responsibility if anything goes wrong, giving them full authority.”

Yoon Seok-heon, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, who also attended the meeting that day, said about the Securities and Futures Commission’s decision, “The Securities and Futures Commission must have had their own standards.” Governor Yoon said, “I think the next Financial Services Commission meeting will probably reach a conclusion.” The next regular meeting of the Financial Services Commission is scheduled for the 19th.