Financial Services Commission (FSC) launches sixth Ombudsman panel, names Moon Mi-ran chair

[Financial News] A new Ombudsman panel has been launched to review the financial authorities from a third-party perspective. Moon Mi-ran, chair of the Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations, will lead the panel and is expected to actively incorporate financial consumers’ voices into the process of improving the system.
The FSC held an appointment ceremony for its sixth Ombudsman panel at the Government Complex Seoul on the 20th. All five Ombudsman members are outside experts, including the chair, Moon Mi-ran, head of the Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations. Kim Hyun-soo, dean of Pusan National University School of Law, will oversee the banking sector, while Seo Jun-sik, a professor in Soongsil University’s Department of Economics, will oversee financial investment. In the insurance sector, where consumer disputes are most frequent, Jung Ji-yeon, secretary-general of the Korea Consumer Federation and a former consumer-organization staff member, was also appointed. Joo So-hyun, a professor in Ewha Womans University’s Department of Consumer Studies, will handle consumer and small-business policy. The new members will serve two-year terms.
The Ombudsman is an independent body that reviews financial administrative regulations and consumer protection systems, separate from the financial authorities and the financial industry. It recommends improvements to unreasonable financial administrative guidance and supervisory practices. It also proposes system improvements to address grievances of financial companies and inconveniences experienced by financial consumers.
A key feature of the sixth Ombudsman panel is its strengthened consumer-protection role. The FSC appointed representatives of consumer organizations as chair and members, respectively, to ensure that difficulties encountered in the financial sector and consumers’ views are more fully reflected in discussions.
Since the FSC Ombudsman was introduced in February 2016, it has reviewed a total of 333 system-improvement tasks. The FSC accepted 162 of them, or about 48.6% of all the tasks reviewed.
The previous, fifth-term Ombudsman panel reviewed 40 tasks and accepted 14 from August 2024 through August this year. One notable achievement was raising the usage limit for postpaid transit cards for teenagers. In light of public transportation fare increases and other factors, the limit for cardholders aged 12 to 17 was raised from 50,000 won to 100,000 won. The relevant best-practice guidelines were revised this March.
The process for changing insurance beneficiaries was also simplified. Last June, the standard terms and conditions were amended so that when the policyholder and the insured are the same person, separate written consent from the insured is not required to change or designate a beneficiary. A plan to establish a legal basis for financial companies’ Chief Consumer Protection Officers (CCOs) is also underway. The relevant bill would define CCOs and specify their appointment requirements, scope of duties and terms of office, among other details, in the Act on the Protection of Financial Consumers. The amendment bill is currently pending in the National Assembly.
At the appointment ceremony that day, FSC Chair Lee Eok-won emphasized, “With the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital finance, the likelihood of new inconveniences for financial consumers and institutional blind spots emerging is growing,” adding, “The role of the Ombudsman in identifying and addressing these issues in a timely manner from an independent and objective perspective is more important than ever.”
[email protected] Park Moon-soo Reporter