FSS employees wear black to protest gov’t plan to restructure financial watchdog agencies

Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) employees hold a protest in front of the FSS headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul on Sept. 9. [NEWS1]

 
Hundreds of employees at the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) wore black to work on Tuesday to protest the government’s plan to restructure financial oversight agencies.
 
Around 700 staff members — roughly 30 percent of the work force — gathered in the lobby of the FSS headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul, holding placards denouncing the separation of the Financial Consumers Protection Agency (FCPA) from the FSS and the planned redesignation of the FSS as a public institution.
 
The rally lasted about 50 minutes.
 
 
FSS Gov. Lee Chan-jin, who arrived at work immediately after the protest, declined to answer questions about the government’s plan to redesignate the agency as a public institution.
 
 
Designating the FSS as a public institution would effectively place its operations under tighter government oversight. While it was initially classified as a public institution, that designation was lifted in 2009, with the agency remaining an independent special corporation ever since.
 
Over the weekend, the government finalized its restructuring plan, which would transform the Financial Services Commission into a Financial Supervisory Commission and place both the FSS and the new FCPA under it as public institutions.
 
“Our organization has been working on the front line of consumer protection with the most experience and expertise,” one protesting employee said. “Was our perspective even reflected in a single line of this restructuring plan?”
 

Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) governor Lee Chan-jin arrives in front of the FSS headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul on Sept. 9. [NEWS1]

 
Another employee argued that separating the FCPA would undermine oversight.  
 
“Supervision of financial firms’ business conduct and consumer protection are organically linked,” the employee said. “They should not be divided.”
 
Among younger employees, frustration was sharper, with some calling the plan a “job scam.”  
 
Under the proposal, the FCPA would supervise financial firms’ dealings with consumers. But many fear its role could be reduced to little more than a call center handling customer complaints.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SHIN HYE-YEON [[email protected]]