Once a 'dream job,' FSS loses more than 100 staff a year to top law firms

More than 100 employees leave South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service every year, data show, raising concerns about a hollowing out of the watchdog once celebrated as a "dream employer" for its high salaries and job security. The exodus of staff in their 20s through 40s is intensifying those worries, compounded by government discussions about relocating public institutions outside Seoul.

Data submitted to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Park Sung-hoon of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee show that 481 FSS employees left the agency between 2022 and July of this year.

Annual departures have risen steadily — 102 in 2022, 103 in 2023, 110 in 2024 and 112 in 2025. This year, 54 employees had already left through July.

Younger staff account for a significant share of those departures. Of the 481 total, 26 were in their 20s, 71 in their 30s and 83 in their 40s, putting the combined 20-to-40s cohort at 180 people, or 37.4 percent of all departures. Among those who left this year alone, employees in that age range made up nearly half — 27 people.

Observers say the sustained loss of younger frontline staff poses a real risk to the FSS's operational continuity and supervisory capacity, given that financial market inspection and oversight work depends heavily on accumulated experience and expertise.

The prospect of a government-mandated relocation outside the capital is adding to those concerns. An internal survey of 1,538 FSS union members found that 82.5 percent of employees under 40 said they would actively consider leaving the agency if it were relocated — well above the 69.7 percent figure recorded across all age groups.

Post-retirement moves to major law firms and related industries have also been conspicuous. From 2016 through July of this year — a span of roughly a decade — Kim & Chang received the most post-employment screening applications from former FSS staff, with 25 cases reviewed by the Public Service Ethics Committee.

Law firm Gwangyang came next with 12 cases, followed by Yulchon with 10, Sejong with 9, Bae Kim & Lee with 8 and Hwawoo with 6. The pattern of former FSS personnel landing at major law firms is unmistakable.

Movement into the virtual asset industry has also been documented in recent cases. Dunamu, a company closely tied to the FSS's supervisory and inspection work, recorded 9 post-employment screening cases, while Bithumb and its affiliates accounted for 7.

"The FSS is caught in a double bind — a revolving door of senior and mid-level staff heading to the private sector on one side, and the flight of young supervisory talent on the other," Park said. "The fact that half of this year's departures are in their 20s to 40s is not something that can be taken lightly, given what it means for the FSS's organizational competitiveness and financial supervisory expertise."

Park added that repeated moves by former FSS inspectors and enforcement officials to the very firms they once regulated, or to law firms representing those firms, would inevitably erode public trust. "The post-employment screening process must not be allowed to become a rubber stamp for FSS alumni seeking private-sector jobs," he said.

Experts say that maintaining the independence and expertise of financial supervision requires more than simply tracking the number of departures. They argue the FSS needs to create working conditions that allow younger staff to build careers within the organization, while strengthening post-employment screening and follow-up oversight for cases where conflicts of interest may arise.