FSS head expected to wage war for hegemony
New Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) chief Kim Ki-sik was amicable during his first meeting with Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Choi Jong-ku, Tuesday, but observers say it is a matter of time before Kim, a ruling party heavyweight, wages a turf war against his FSC counterpart to expand the service’s jurisdiction.
Kim said in his inauguration statement, Monday, that “the roles of policy and supervisory agencies are clearly different,” hinting he will establish a distinct identity for the FSS as his first task.
“The two agencies share a direction, but the basic principle of the nation’s top financial agency shouldn’t be politically distorted,” Kim said.
Kim’s remarks indicate the FSS needs to expand its power to the extent that it could perhaps oversee the FSC’s policy-making process.
Both agencies have often emphasized their “unified” relationship in function, but such intimacy is expected to shift under Kim’s leadership.
Union members at the FSS also welcomed Kim’s appointment to the post.
“The agency has been the FSC’s marionette for the last 10 years,” the union said in statement.
“Kim should regain the FSS’s unique functions as the nation’s financial overseer.”
Veteran activist Kim was elected to the 19th National Assembly, and has since been known as a “sniper” of financial companies. While he was serving as a member of the National Assembly’s National Policy Committee, Kim often staged a war of words with the financial authorities.
Criticizing the back-scratching relationship between the government and private banks, Kim also had a heated discussion with Choi during a hearing in 2014.
Kim also opposed the FSC’s move to ease the separation between industrial and financial capital while he was a lawmaker, and was opposed to its plan to extend the Corporate Restructuring Promotion Act.
The FSC said it is also expecting a jurisdiction struggle with the FSS under Kim’s leadership.
“Kim said it was his job to oppose the FSC’s policies as an opposition party lawmaker back then and he will do his job as the FSS governor, but I believe it is a matter of time before that stance comes back to the surface,” an FSC official was quoted as saying.
“A number of his pledges are actually under FSC jurisdiction. There will be a power struggle.”
The financial sector also demonstrated concern over a possible turf war between the two agencies.
“Kim is a heavyweight with a strong background with the ruling party, but Choi is just a bureaucrat,” the official said.
“However, the FSC outranks the FSS in the system. It will be interesting to see how they coexist.”