New head promises to overhaul finance body

Kim Jong-chang

The new head of the Financial Supervisory Service said yesterday he will turn the organization into a service-minded public agency, defying concerns that his long-time term at the government is weighing down the top local financial watchdog.
Kim Jong-chang, who has worked for the Finance Ministry for 20 years, said he will create a special force within the organization to carry out substantial internal changes.
“We will shift the supervision paradigm so that the Financial Supervisory Service will not be a ruling agency any longer but be a serving and helping agency,” Kim said.
Kim, 59, was named FSS governor Thursday, eight years after he served there as vice governor.
The appointment came as a surprise to some since it has been expected that someone from the private sector would get the job, as was the case with the top two posts at the Finance Services Commission.
Jun Kwang-woo, former president of Deloitte Korea, and Rhee Chang-yong, a reform-minded former economics professor, were designated as chairman and vice chairman of the nation’s top finance policy setting agency, respectively, earlier this month. The FSS is under the arm of the FSC.
Kim also headed Industrial Bank of Korea between 2001 and 2004.

By Moon Gwang-lip Staff Reporter [joe@joongang.co.kr]