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The Korean regulator, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has announced that Basel II specialist Bill Ryback, a previous regulator with the US Federal Reserve and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, has been appointed as a special advisor to the FSS, with the plan to elevate him to the post of deputy governor after a six-month trial period.
Ryback is leaving Hong Kong, where he was deputy chief executive for four years at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Prior to that, he spent 17 years including Board positions at the US Federal Reserve. Ryback is an expert on international financial supervisory standards and banking oversight and a specialist in Basel II and was the key figure in Hong Kong becoming one of the first in Asia to entirely adopt the new standard. He also implemented Hong Kong’s deposit protection scheme and its commercial credit database.
Korean banking relationships are in need of an experienced guiding hand. Deregulation and foreign investments have caused pains for local banks, whilst the foreign investors are complaining of unfair treatment and discrimination following a number of prosecutions against them. This is the most senior appointment by the FSS following those of consultants Jane Kang Thorpe, ex-chief legal officer at Qatar Financial Center, and Nigel Davies, formerly an independent consultant at the International Monetary Fund.
The FSS said it expects Ryback to "reinvigorate the ongoing preparations for the New Basel Accord" as well as continuing the move to further deregulation and advanced financial supervision. It expects Ryback’s links with international financial supervisors and financial organisations to fulfil the FSS’s goal of becoming a regional financial hub.
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