Kim So-young, Vice Chairperson, "Adding Financial Policy Execution Oversight Role to Financial Services Commission Ombudsman"

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Kim Soyoung, Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), announced that the FSC Ombudsman’s duties will be expanded to include monitoring and reviewing the execution of major financial policies in addition to the existing roles of regulatory oversight and consumer protection.

On the 10th, the FSC held the first meeting to appoint the 4th term Ombudsman Committee and appointed five Ombudsman members.

At the meeting, Vice Chairman Kim stated, "The financial industry structure is becoming complex and diversified, and social interests are sharply conflicting. It is more important than anything else to inspect how financial policies are being executed on the ground from a third-party perspective and to continuously supplement them by reflecting changes in the policy environment." She added, "I hope the Ombudsman will listen directly to opinions from financial companies and consumers or receive reports from on-site inspections to monitor and review the status of policy execution and provide various supplementary opinions." Furthermore, Vice Chairman Kim said, "Additionally, as a permanent regulatory oversight body, the Ombudsman will smoothly perform communication and feedback roles with the field during the regulatory innovation process. We will also resume the on-site messenger activities that were suspended due to the spread of COVID-19 and continue to strengthen related roles so that the Ombudsman can gather diverse field opinions and take the lead in protecting financial consumers."

The 4th term Ombudsman was appointed considering financial expertise, independence from financial authorities and sectors. Professor Kim Jeongsik, Emeritus Professor of Economics at Yonsei University, was appointed as the chairman. Professors Kim Hyunwook of KDI School of Public Policy and Management, Park Sojung of Seoul National University’s Business Administration Department, Lee Seokho, Head of Insurance and Pension Research at the Korea Institute of Finance, and Kwon Namhoon, Professor of Economics at Konkuk University, were appointed as members in the banking, financial investment, insurance, and consumer/small and medium enterprise subcommittees, respectively.

Chairman Kim Jeongsik of the Ombudsman Committee said, "From the perspective of policy demanders, I will carefully review and consider whether financial policy support is being provided as originally intended and whether there are any improvements needed in the execution process." He added, "I will faithfully perform the communication role with the field to identify any improvements in financial supervisory administration and practices during the regulatory innovation process and listen attentively to the voices from the field to protect financial consumers."

The FSC plans to newly establish a 'policy inspection and monitoring' function for the 4th term Ombudsman so that the Ombudsman can comprehensively oversee from a third-party perspective. The Ombudsman meetings will select major policies to be inspected, check the status of their execution and improvements on the ground, and build a system to recommend improvements and monitor and inspect related FSC departments.

The Ombudsman system was introduced in February 2016 to continuously inspect the regulatory status of financial authorities and consumer protection tasks from a third-party perspective. Through the activities of the 1st to 3rd term Ombudsman, 239 improvement tasks were reviewed, of which 118 were accepted.