Choi Jun-woo, Former Standing Commissioner of the FSC, Mentioned as Next President of Korea Housing Finance Corporation

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Gang-wook] Choi Jun-woo, former standing commissioner of the Securities and Futures Commission, is being mentioned as the next president of the Korea Housing Finance Corporation (KHFC). The fact that Choi resigned with about half of his term remaining coincides with the timing of the public recruitment for the next KHFC president, lending weight to this speculation.

According to the Financial Services Commission on the 3rd, Choi officially resigned as of the 30th of last month. Choi, who was appointed in April last year, resigned midway after serving about half of his three-year term. He entered public service through the 35th Administrative Examination and is a seasoned financial bureaucrat who has served as Director of the Small and Low-Income Finance Policy Bureau and Director of the Financial Consumer Bureau at the Financial Services Commission.

In the financial sector, there is analysis that Choi may have voluntarily stepped down from his position at the Securities and Futures Commission with the KHFC presidency in mind.

KHFC is currently accepting applications for the public recruitment of the next president to succeed Lee Jung-hwan. The application deadline is 6 p.m. on the 4th. Lee’s term ends on January 2nd next year, and an executive recommendation committee has already been formed within KHFC. According to KHFC’s internal regulations, an executive recommendation committee must be formed two months before the president’s term expires to begin the appointment process.

Except for the inaugural president Jeong Hong-sik, KHFC presidents have traditionally been bureaucrats or former Bank of Korea officials, so the industry expects that this time as well, an economic bureaucrat will likely be appointed. The current president Lee also entered public service through the 17th Administrative Examination and has held key bureaucratic positions such as Director-General of the Treasury Bureau at the Ministry of Finance and Economy (now Ministry of Economy and Finance), Economic Counselor at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Director of the Policy Situation Office at the Office for Government Policy Coordination, and Chairman of the Korea Exchange. The KHFC president is appointed by the president of the Republic of Korea upon recommendation by the Financial Services Commission chairman, after the executive recommendation committee nominates multiple candidates through a public recruitment process.

Previously, Son Byung-doo, former vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission, was appointed chairman of the Korea Exchange. Jeong Ji-won, former chairman of the Korea Exchange and a Financial Services Commission alumnus, was appointed chairman of the General Insurance Association, and Jeong Hee-soo, a three-term lawmaker and head of the Korea Insurance Research Institute, was appointed chairman of the Life Insurance Association. Kim Kwang-soo, who officially took office as the new chairman of the Korea Federation of Banks on the 1st, began his public service career through the 27th Administrative Examination and has held key financial bureaucrat positions including Director of Financial Policy at the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Senior Administrative Officer for Economic Policy at the Presidential Secretariat, Director of the Financial Services Bureau at the Financial Services Commission, and Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit.

Meanwhile, the Financial Services Commission has begun the process of selecting the next Securities and Futures Commissioner following Choi’s resignation. Candidates reportedly include Park Jung-hoon, former Planning and Coordination Officer who was dispatched earlier this year as senior specialist for political affairs at the Democratic Party’s Policy Committee; Lee Myung-soon, Director of the Financial Consumer Bureau; Kim Jeong-gak, Director of Capital Market Policy; and Lee Se-hoon, Director of Financial Policy. With two of the five first-grade positions, including Choi and Lee Seong-ho at the Financial Services Commission, now vacant, a chain of personnel movements is expected.