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| The headquarters of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Yeouido, Seoul / Courtesy of FSS |
By Anna J. Park
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has decided to appeal to the Supreme Court over a legal battle with Woori Financial Chairman Son Tae-seung, as the two sides have been fighting over the validity of the FSS' sanctions on the financial group's chief. The decision to appeal came several weeks after the FSS lost its appellate trial on the issue in late July.
According to the FSS on Thursday, the financial watchdog decided to appeal the case at the country's highest court following thorough considerations and examinations.
"The decision to appeal to the Supreme Court has been made, as the FSS views it necessary for the country to set straight of legal and institutional foundation about financial sectors' internal control issues," the FSS' press release stated.
"The decision to bring the case to the Supreme Court is beyond a response to a single case, but rather it is necessary to resolve legal uncertainties surrounding internal control matters stipulated in the country's Act on Corporate Governance of Financial Companies, so that the FSS can carry out more effective and consistent implementations of the law into practice," the statement went on.
The FSS explained that lower court verdicts and reasoning on the validity of the FSS' punitive measures imposed on bank chiefs regarding the mis-selling of high-risk derivative-linked funds (DLFs) by Woori Bank and Hana Bank are somewhat contradictory, thus the legal reasoning behind the cases needs to be straightened up at the Supreme Court.
In late July, the Seoul High Court maintained the first court's ruling of the administrative case against the FSS' sanctions on the Woori Financial chairman. The first trial of the battle between Son and the FSS was ruled in favor of Son in August last year, nullifying the FSS' punitive measures on him.
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