FSS chief meets Chinese counterpart, first in six years

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) governor met with his Chinese counterpart last week for the first time in six years in a bid to strengthen financial cooperation between the two countries.

Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Bok-hyun, speaks during a press conference held at the FSS office in Yeouido, western Seoul, to celebrate his first anniversary in the role in June. [FSS]

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) governor met with his Chinese counterpart last week for the first time in six years in a bid to strengthen financial cooperation between the two countries.

FSS Gov. Lee Bok-hyun met Li Yunze, minister of the National Financial Regulatory Administration on Aug. 31 to discuss trends in the financial market and supervision over the industry, confirmed the FSS on Thursday.

It was the first official visit by an FSS chief to China since July 2017.

The visit came amid FSS’s ongoing investigation into the alleged mismanagement of funds by asset management companies including Lime, Optimus and Discovery, and the suspected transfer of illegal funds to foreign countries in the process.

Last month, FSS announced it had relaunched an investigation into the three asset management companies, accused of creating and selling fraudulent financial products and freezing fund redemptions, after discovering additional law violations.

The FSS found some $12.2 billion worth of funds from 84 companies were transferred overseas through abnormal transactions last year.

Lee also met Liao Lin, president of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, during his visit and called for an expansion of the bank’s activities in Korea.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]