Financial Services Commission Requests Ministry of the Interior and Safety to Increase Next Year's Staff by 80, Including 22 Dedicated to Cryptocurrency

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] It has been confirmed that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) requested the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to increase its staff by a total of 80 people next year. Ahead of the enforcement of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information scheduled for September, the FSC requested an increase of 22 personnel for the newly established dedicated cryptocurrency department under the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

According to materials submitted to Rep. Yoon Chang-hyun of the People Power Party on the 26th by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the FSC requested an increase of △22 personnel for the FIU △5 for the Planning and Coordination Division △6 for the Financial Industry Bureau △6 for the Financial Innovation Planning Division △1 for the Planning and Coordination Officer △10 for the Capital Market Investigation Division △2 for the Capital Market Policy Officer △12 each for the Financial Policy Bureau and Financial Policy Bureau △2 for the Spokesperson's Office, totaling 80 personnel.

Regarding the increase in FIU personnel, the FSC stated that organizational restructuring is necessary to respond to strengthened anti-money laundering standards. The FSC explained, "Since it is an organization with a first-level agency head who has both policy formulation and execution functions, a director to assist the agency head is needed."

Additionally, the FSC requested an increase of 10 personnel for the Capital Market Investigation Division. This is due to the recent trend of capital market crimes becoming larger and more sophisticated (such as the DLF incident and Lime Asset Management), necessitating prompt investigation and enhanced expertise.

Based on past precedents, the likelihood that all of the FSC's personnel reinforcement requests will be accepted is low. Over the past five years, the FSC has requested an average annual increase of 58.6 personnel. However, the actual increase averaged only 5.2 personnel per year. This year as well, out of 79 requested, only 4 personnel were added.