[2020 National Audit] Yoon Seok-heon "Domestic Financial Companies' Overseas Expansion Accelerates... Need to Expand Overseas Offices"

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] Yoon Seok-heon, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), stated that as domestic financial companies' overseas expansion is rapidly increasing, it is necessary to expand the FSS's overseas offices.

Yoon Seok-heon, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, is attending the audit of the Financial Supervisory Service at the Political Affairs Committee held at the National Assembly on the 13th, responding to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

On the 13th, Governor Yoon responded to a question from Kim Byung-wook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, during the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee audit, saying, "As domestic investors' overseas investments increase and financial companies' overseas expansion also grows, wouldn't there be many tasks for the FSS to perform abroad?"

On that day, Rep. Kim asked, "Although interest in overseas markets is increasing, looking at the FSS's organizational chart, the Singapore office was recently suspended, and the Hong Kong office was even closed. The Board of Audit and Inspection viewed this as managerial negligence, but with the increase in overseas financial products, wouldn't appropriate measures from the FSS be necessary?"

In response, Governor Yoon said, "Among private equity funds like Gentu and Discovery, there are cases where overseas products have caused problems. Also, among alternative investments, products targeting overseas real estate assets are increasing, so expanding overseas offices is a necessary measure at this point."

He added, "In Southeast Asia, the number of local subsidiaries or branches of Korean financial companies is rapidly increasing, and it is an important time for the FSS to play a role as an intermediary between those financial companies and local financial authorities."