Hwawoo Recruits Former FSC Deputy Director Ma Soon as Partner Attorney

[Financial News] Hwawoo said on the 8th that it had recruited Ma Soon, a former Financial Services Commission (FSC) deputy director and member of the 36th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, as a partner attorney. The move is intended to provide comprehensive legal advisory services on financial regulations, ranging from financial-sector licensing and sanctions to policy, legislation and responses to compulsory investigations.
After completing the Judicial Research and Training Institute in 2007, Ma began his public-service career as an administrative officer at the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Ministry of Finance and Economy. Following the FSC's launch in 2008, he worked in the Banking Division, Insurance Division, Small and Medium-sized Finance Division and Inclusive Finance Team, handling licensing and sanctions across the banking, insurance and specialized credit finance sectors. He also worked extensively on key financial-infrastructure laws, including the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, the Act on Real Name Financial Transactions and Confidentiality, the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, the Credit Information Use and Protection Act, and the Act on the Protection of Financial Consumers.
While at the FIU, Ma handled the preparation of a mutual evaluation report and responses to an on-site assessment during South Korea's process of joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as a full member. South Korea joined the FATF as a full member in October 2009. In 2018, he was dispatched to the Personal Information Protection Policy Division of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS), where he conducted on-site inspections of personal-information management practices. He received a commendation from the MOIS minister for his work.
After being promoted to deputy director in 2020, Ma worked in the Financial Consumer Policy Division on the enactment of subordinate regulations under the Act on the Protection of Financial Consumers. He later headed the FSC's financial regulatory sandbox team, overseeing the designation of innovative financial services and the establishment of guidelines for exclusive operating rights. Most recently, as head of the second compulsory-investigation team of the Joint Task Force for Eradication of Stock Price Manipulation, he directed on-site investigations, including search-and-seizure operations, into unfair trading cases in the capital market. The task force was launched in July last year as a cooperative body involving the FSC, the Financial Supervisory Service and the Korea Exchange (KRX), and was reorganized and expanded into a two-team structure in January.
At Hwawoo, Ma will advise on financial regulatory sandboxes, digital finance, unfair trading in the capital market, credit information, anti-money-laundering, financial-sector licensing and sanctions, and financial consumer protection.
Lee Myung-soo, managing partner at Hwawoo, said, "At the FSC, Ma experienced the entire financial regulatory process, from policy planning and the enactment and amendment of laws to on-site investigations." He added, "With his arrival, we have established an advisory system equipped not only with practical expertise but also with a policy perspective."
[email protected] Kim Dong-gyu Reporter