11th Finance Day ceremony

194 awards presented across innovation, inclusion and savings-investment categories

First-ever joint awards for finance professionals and their customers

Lee Eok-won: 'Even in the AI era, finance's competitiveness comes from people'

Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eok-won [FSC]
Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eok-won [FSC]

For the first time at Finance Day — the financial sector's most prominent annual ceremony — finance professionals and their customers received awards together. A new commendation category recognizing financial firms that expanded youth hiring also made its debut, with Kyobo Life and K bank named as the inaugural recipients.

The Financial Services Commission held the 11th Finance Day ceremony Tuesday at the Westin Josun Seoul in Jung-gu, Seoul. About 450 people attended, including FSC Chairman Lee Eok-won and Financial Supervisory Service Director General Lee Chan-jin. A total of 194 awards were presented across three categories — innovative finance, inclusive finance, and savings and investment. The breakdown included two orders of merit, five citations, 19 presidential commendations, 26 prime ministerial commendations, 124 FSC chairman commendations and 18 FSS director general commendations.

The new award categories put into practice a vision Lee had outlined at last year's ceremony. At that event, he said the occasion should "develop into a venue that encourages finance to grow alongside customers and create social value, and that gives proper recognition to financial institutions that create jobs for young people."

The co-growth awards went jointly to a finance professional and a customer whose growth, made possible by that financial support, went on to generate broader social value. Five pairs were selected. Son Ji-young, a team leader at Korea Credit Guarantee Fund who expanded tailored financial support for deep tech companies, received the award alongside Park Jeong-yun, chief executive of Interex, whom she helped through an AI transition in manufacturing. Hanbit Credit Union received the award jointly with Mindeullae Medical Welfare Social Cooperative; the two organizations built a social finance model linking financial services with medical welfare.

Kyobo Life and K bank received the youth hiring expansion award, each earning an FSC chairman commendation. The FSC said its evaluation considered not only the number of new hires and the scale of increase, but also whether companies operated inclusive hiring programs for regional talent, people with disabilities and veterans.

Two people received orders of merit. Shin Hye-suk, a division head at Korea Development Bank who contributed to operating the National Growth Fund, received the Order of Industrial Service Merit (Iron Tower). Kang Bong-geun, a department head at the South Gyeongsang Province Credit Guarantee Foundation who has provided guarantees to low-credit borrowers and small business owners, received the Order of Civil Merit (Pomegranate). Five people received citations, including Kim Jae-wook of the Korea Financial Investment Association, Kim Yeong-sin of the Credit Counseling and Recovery Service, and Jeong Hui, an assistant manager at NH NongHyup Bank. Presidential commendations went to 15 individuals and four organizations, among them Kim Jong-hyeon, a team leader at Korea Technology Finance Corporation; Hong Seong-hwan, a detective at the Busan Suyeong Police Station who has investigated cybercrime in finance; and Hwi-gyeong Girls' Middle School for its student financial education efforts. In the savings and investment category, actor Lee Kwang-soo, recognized for sustained charitable giving, received a prime ministerial commendation, while Park Eun-bin received an FSC chairman commendation.

In his congratulatory remarks, Lee said he was convinced that "even in the AI era, finance's competitiveness ultimately comes from human judgment and intuition about new advanced technologies, and from the trust between people." He added that young people — the generation that has grown up most familiar with those technologies — are all around us, and urged the financial sector to invest more attention in hiring youth.

Lee also cited progress on productive finance. "The 150 trillion won ($113 billion) National Growth Fund has successfully launched," he said, adding that "visible changes are now being felt — the supply of long-term capital to industrial sites is expanding, and household lending is being managed stably."

"The weight of every decision made by finance professionals is never small," Lee said. "I hope finance will become another name for hope."


won@heraldcorp.com