photo = Yonhap News
According to the financial authorities, the number of retirees has increased by 20% in the past three years. Not only high-ranking public officials at level 4 or higher, but also waist-level personnel below level 5 are leaving one after another. Analysts say that the number of people turning to the private sector instead of the high-ranking public officials is increasing every year as the chronic personnel backlog problem of the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service overlaps with the booming cryptocurrency (coin) and fintech.
According to statistics on the number of retirees from 2018 to 2022, which the FSC and the Financial Supervisory Service submitted to the Office of the People’s Strength Councilor Yoon Joo-kyung on the 1st, last year, the number of retirees at the two establishments stood at 93. From 70 in 2018, it is on the rise again after 2019 (81) and 2020 (91). This is an increase of 20% in three years. As of February this year, 17 people have already left the company.
Most of them were retired from the Financial Supervisory Service. Last year, 78 people left the Financial Supervisory Service and 15 people left the FSC. In 2020, 75 and 16, respectively, and this year, 15 and 2, respectively, left the company. The financial industry is saying that the number of cases of people moving to the private sector at their own will has increased significantly, except for retirees. In particular, there has been an increase in the number of cases of employees leaving the ranks of 5 or lower who do not undergo employment screening for senior civil servants.
In the FSS, there were only 2 retirees of level 5 employees in 2018, but it is increasing in 2019 (6 people), 2020 (4 people), 2021 (4 people), etc. In 2018, there was no case of resignation from grades 5-7 in the FSC. However, according to the data, after 2019, 2 to 3 people in the 5th and 7th grades have resigned every year.
In fact, it is explained that the number of cases of transfer to new financial institutions such as coin and fintech or private companies with good conditions such as large corporations and law firms is continuing in the financial authorities. This year, the FSC, who had been in charge of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, moved to Kim & Chang Law Firm.
Prior to this, last year, an official from the Financial Industry Bureau of the Financial Services Commission got a job at Bithumb, a coin exchange. In addition, the deputy director of the Fintech field advisory group of the Financial Supervisory Service moved to Dunamu, which operates Upbit, and a former head of the Capital Markets Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Service moved to Pika Project, a coin issuer.
The financial sector is predicting that the ‘manpower exodus’ of the financial authorities will continue for the time being. This is because there is a significant demand for manpower in the cryptocurrency and fintech industries, and more unconventional conditions such as stock options are being put forward.
It is pointed out that the financial authorities’ backlog of personnel and a closed organizational culture may have acted as a background. An employee of the FSC said, “Even if you work hard, it is not easy to get a high position, and because you are greatly influenced by your university or major, etc. It is a thing of the past to work only with the sense of duty and honor of being a civil servant.”
Some observers point out that excessive high-ranking officials’ employment screening regulations are further encouraging the departure of young employees. An official from the Financial Supervisory Service said, “There are many employees who want to move to a better place in advance, rather than being subjected to a high-ranking official’s job examination without being promoted after waiting longer. It seems,” he said.
By Jung So-ram, staff reporter ram@hankyung.com
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