The Financial Supervisory Service labour union submitted a petition to the president opposing the relocation of the Financial Supervisory Service and public financial institutions outside Seoul. A total of 1,720 FSS employees signed the petition.

The union said on Thursday it submitted the petition to President Lee Jae-myung, detailing concerns about the relocation outside Seoul.

The union said the clustering benefits of Seoul’s financial hub, where financial firms, policy lenders and financial supervisory bodies are concentrated, should be considered. Given the financial industry’s reliance on specialised staff and constant information exchange among institutions, it said greater physical distance could weaken industry competitiveness.

It also raised the possibility of an outflow of specialised staff. In a staff survey cited by the union, if the relocation is made official, 609 of 757 respondents under 40 years old, or 80.4 percent, indicated they may leave. The figure was 147 of 172 lawyers, or 85.5 percent, and 285 of 361 accountants, or 78.9 percent. For staff with master’s or doctoral degrees, 203 of 310, or 65.5 percent, indicated they may leave.

The union also cited financial consumer access as a reason to oppose the relocation. It said accessibility for consumers, as well as supervised financial firms, should be considered when deciding the agency’s location.

In the petition, the union proposed allowing the FSS and public financial institutions to cluster in financial hubs such as Seoul’s Yeouido. It also proposed pursuing balanced regional development by expanding incentives such as regional reinvestment assessment incentives to foster local growth drivers.

Kim Sang-woo (김상우), head of the FSS union, said relocating the FSS and public financial institutions outside Seoul raises concerns about weaker competitiveness in the financial industry. He said it could also make it harder to respond effectively to consumer harm.