South Korea to Move Financial Services Commission to Sejong in 2027

South Korea will move the Financial Services Commission from Seoul to Sejong in the second half of 2027, extending the government’s decentralization program to the country’s top financial policymaking body.

The commission was added to the government’s second round of central administrative agency relocations announced Tuesday after being left out of an initial list released last month. Its roughly 340 employees are expected to move from the Government Complex Seoul into leased offices in Sejong. The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit, an affiliated organization with about 80 employees, will relocate as well.

The move is intended to place financial policymakers closer to the major economic ministries already based in Sejong. The government argues that clustering related agencies can improve coordination across fiscal, macroeconomic and financial policy while supporting regional development and reducing the concentration of public-sector jobs and economic activity in the Seoul metropolitan area.

The decision nevertheless creates a physical divide between financial policy and much of the industry it regulates. Seoul remains South Korea’s financial center and is home to the Financial Supervisory Service, major banks, securities companies and industry associations. Financial-sector unions have warned that greater distance between policymakers, supervisors and companies could slow responses during market stress, raise operating costs and make it harder to retain experienced personnel.

Staff retention is a particular concern. In an earlier survey of 1,538 Financial Supervisory Service union members, 69.7 percent said they would consider changing jobs if their agency moved. The share rose to 82.5 percent among employees younger than 40. Critics have also pointed to retention difficulties experienced by the National Pension Service’s fund management division after its relocation to Jeonju in 2017.

The commission’s inclusion could renew debate over whether other financial public institutions should also leave Seoul. Among those discussed are the Financial Supervisory Service, Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., Korea Development Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea and Export-Import Bank of Korea. No relocation decision has been announced for those bodies.

Authorities plan to offer relocation and settlement support to affected civil servants and are considering temporary transportation assistance for employees unable to move immediately. The transfer will test whether closer proximity among economic ministries can outweigh the practical costs of separating financial rulemaking from supervisors and market participants concentrated in Seoul.