“Lee said he would make Seoul the ‘economic capital’...” The Financial Services Commission (FSC) is disheartened; unions at state-run financial institutions go on alert

[Financial News] “I had pinned my hopes on President Lee Jae-myung’s vision of ‘Seoul as the economic capital,’ but I’m disheartened.” (An FSC official)
The FSC, the government agency in charge of financial policy, will relocate to Sejong City in the second half of next year. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Office for Government Policy Coordination plan to finalize this year their relocation plans for state-run financial institutions under the FSC, including the Financial Supervisory Service, the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Korea Development Bank. Tensions are rising not only within the FSC, whose staff will have to pack up and move in the second half of next year, but also at financial public corporations being considered for relocation to regional areas, as employees’ lives and homes are set to be upended all at once. A significant number of departures are seen as inevitable, particularly among employees hoping to remain in Seoul or the surrounding metropolitan area because of dual-income family arrangements or childcare.
According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the FSC on the 13th, about 400 FSC personnel, including staff at the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), are slated to relocate to Sejong City in the second half of next year. Observers inside and outside government circles say the FSC’s move to Sejong City could increase the likelihood of its reunification with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, with which it was once part of a single organization. The two were split in 2008 under the Lee Myung-bak administration, and the ministry moved to Sejong City first, in 2012.
The relocation of the Financial Supervisory Service and major financial public corporations was not announced that day. However, the Seoul-based employees alone at the main institutions being discussed as relocation candidates number more than 10,000: about 2,400 at the Financial Supervisory Service, based on its Seoul headquarters; 3,400 at the Korea Development Bank, based on its head office; 1,460 at the Export-Import Bank of Korea; 2,000 at the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK); 900 at the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation; and 340 at the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC). With the FSC, which formulates financial policy, headed to Sejong City, observers say the relocation to regional areas of key financial personnel who manage large-scale policy funds is also now on the cards.
Despite the policy of relocating central government agencies “without exception,” some within the FSC had initially hoped to remain in Seoul, citing the need to communicate with commercial banks and other financial institutions, as well as with the FSC-affiliated Financial Supervisory Service. Those hopes were further buoyed by President Lee Jae-myung’s remarks about making Seoul the “economic capital.” But after the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that day a plan for the FSC to relocate in the second half of 2027, considerable unease reportedly spread, particularly among civil servants in their 20s to 40s. “Even within the economic ministries, the workload is heavy and promotions tend to come relatively late, but living in Seoul was an advantage. With the move to Sejong City, I expect many people to leave,” an FSC official said. An FSC deputy director said, “I’m considering moving to a company based in Seoul.” Another FSC official lamented, “People here had pinned their hopes on the president’s statement that he would make Seoul a financial hub, so we’re disheartened.”

According to documents the office of Kang Jun-hyun, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea, obtained from the FSC, 15 FSC employees had left between the beginning of this year and July, as the possibility of the FSC relocating to Sejong City was being discussed. That means 15 of the approximately 400 employees left the FSC around the first half of this year. The total number of departures last year was 19. This year’s leavers included not only junior employees but also director- and bureau director-level officials, the backbone of hands-on financial policy and supervision work. Some moved to the private sector, including securities firms, law firms and alternative trading systems.
With the FSC’s relocation to Sejong City confirmed, unions at financial institutions being considered for relocation to regional areas—including the Financial Supervisory Service, the Korea Development Bank, the Industrial Bank of Korea and the Export-Import Bank of Korea—have gone on alert. Last month, the Financial Supervisory Service union submitted a petition to the government expressing concerns about relocation to regional areas, signed by 1,679 employees. The Korea Investment Corporation formed a union for the first time since its founding. Policy bank unions are also reportedly considering a joint response.
[email protected] Jo Eun-hyo, Park Mun-su Reporter