[Financial Microscope] IT Incidents Surge as Inspectors Pack Up... Concerns Grow Over Supervisory Gaps at FSS

Five Leave for Every Ten Hired: Outflow Equals Hiring Scale, Raising Red Flags for Inspection Capacity
Morale Drops Amid "Superstructure upon a Superstructure" Concerns... Public Institution Redesignation Risk Drives Talent to Law Firms
Inspections Pile Up at Coupang, Lotte Card, and Others... "No Grounds Left to Persuade Departing Juniors to Stay"

While a "phobia" of electronic financial incidents is spreading throughout the financial sector, the supervisory authorities tasked with monitoring and preventing such incidents are now facing a crisis due to a drain of personnel. As incidents resulting from external intrusions are rapidly increasing-beyond issues of internal controls at financial institutions-collaboration with government and related agencies is expanding, and the duration of inspections is lengthening. However, the number of internal experts available to carry out these tasks continues to dwindle.

Five Leave for Every Ten Hired in a Year

According to the financial industry on January 28, five employees from the Digital IT (Information Technology) department at the Financial Supervisory Service resigned last year. This is equivalent to the annual number of new IT hires at the fifth-grade level at the Financial Supervisory Service. The number of fifth-grade comprehensive IT employees hired over the past three years was 13 in 2024, 11 last year, and 7 this year, showing a steady decline. The proportion of IT employees among all fifth-grade open recruitment hires also stagnated at 10.8%, 15.7%, and 10.6% over the same period. Experienced hires were limited to seven or fewer in 2023 and four or fewer in 2025, and this year, only accountants and lawyers were hired. Internally, some at the Financial Supervisory Service note that securing experienced IT professionals over the past three years means the immediate departure of five employees is not yet catastrophic, but there are concerns that continued outflow will seriously undermine supervisory capabilities.

This "drought" of new IT recruits runs counter to the direction set by Lee Chanjin, the governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, for departmental leadership appointments this year. In a press release on December 22, the Financial Supervisory Service stated, "We have retained department heads in key areas where urgent responses are needed, such as IT information leaks, virtual asset hacking, and eradicating stock price manipulation." A total of 22 department heads-one-quarter of all 82-were retained. Notably, the heads of the IT Inspection Bureau and Electronic Financial Inspection Bureau, which handled recent high-profile inspections of Coupang and Lotte Card, as well as the Electronic Financial Supervision Bureau responsible for system design, were among those retained. While the retention of department heads underscores the urgent need to secure IT personnel, the reality is that there are significant challenges in recruiting and retaining staff at the working level.

'Public' Redesignation Risk..."Personnel Outflow Burden Is Growing"

Within the Financial Supervisory Service, there is a growing sentiment that, for the time being, the focus must be on retaining existing IT talent, rather than recruiting new hires. Many employees recognize the difficulty of securing high-quality supervisory and inspection personnel under current external conditions. The biggest variable is whether the government and the political sector will redesignate the Financial Supervisory Service as a public institution. If designated as such, the agency would be subject to an annual management evaluation by the Public Institutions Management Committee of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and would face strict controls over budget and personnel expenses. Ultimately, there are growing concerns that, if the Financial Supervisory Service is effectively converted into a "Financial Supervisory Corporation," maintaining independent oversight of financial companies will become even more difficult.

In this context, Lee Chanjin, the governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, has strongly opposed the idea, calling it a "superstructure upon a superstructure," arguing that it is unreasonable for the agency to have an additional superior body, following the Financial Services Commission and now potentially the Ministry of Economy and Finance. If designated as a public institution, internal misconduct and operational matters would be subject to much more intense scrutiny from the Board of Audit and Inspection. One official at the Financial Supervisory Service said, "With it becoming increasingly difficult to avoid redesignation by the Public Institutions Management Committee, there is no clear way to prevent staff from leaving. When a young employee notifies us of their intention to move to a law firm, there is little we can say except 'thank you for your hard work.'"

Declining Inspection Efficiency..."It's Hard to Stop Junior Colleagues from Leaving"

Some within the Financial Supervisory Service express frustration that, under the Lee Jaemyung administration, demand for policies on livelihood finance and consumer protection has surged, but there have been no measures to increase staffing, leading to a significant drop in morale. Tasks requiring cooperation with other ministries-such as voice phishing (Ministry of the Interior and Safety), big tech incidents (Ministry of Science and ICT, Personal Information Protection Commission), and others-are increasing, and the complexity of inspections has risen. However, without adequate personnel support, work efficiency is declining.

In practice, the Financial Supervisory Service extended both the on-site inspection and field audit of Coupang Pay, a subsidiary of Coupang, in relation to a customer information leak. The Lotte Card inspection was also conducted more than three times, and it is expected to take several more months before the Sanctions Review Committee's decision and the submission and resolution by the Financial Services Commission. In addition, disciplinary procedures for information leaks at other major card companies, such as Woori Card and Shinhan Card, are also pending, all under the jurisdiction of the IT inspection department.

Another official at the Financial Supervisory Service commented, "IT incidents are becoming increasingly sophisticated and intelligent, making the input of specialized personnel ever more important. However, it is difficult to prevent outflow. Without fundamental improvements in working conditions, it will become increasingly difficult not only to retain current staff but also to attract outstanding new talent."