Bank of Korea's Shin sets a nine-department panel alongside the deputy governors' reporting lines

The forum's named examples are central bank digital currency, tokenization and cross-border payments ^[4]. Shin's own remarks run wider.

Asked at the National Assembly audit on the 12th by Rep. Lee Kwang-jae of the Democratic Party what institutional improvements the BOK needs ^[7], he said: "The most important management principle I have been pursuing since coming to the BOK is removing internal barriers," he said ^[5]. He added that "when domestic and global economies, finance, exchange rates and bonds are all intertwined as they are now, running an organization in silos is inappropriate." ^[6] That is the one place the report puts exchange rates and bonds next to the reorganization, and it is a statement of principle about how to run the bank.

The reporting-line case can be counted. Where one deputy governor oversees as many as five departments and offices, reports pass through that deputy governor and sharing between departments can be limited ^[14]. The strategy meeting draws directors from nine departments ^[2], so if all nine sit under deputy governors the panel crosses at least two portfolios, since nine over five rounds up to two ^[13]. The idea that the panel is meant to pool information scattered among the deputy governors, and let the governor coordinate major issues directly, is en.sedaily.com's reading of the design ^[17]. The deputy-governor lines remain, and the panel supplements them ^[1].

The appointments add a markets thread, thin but real. Choi Young-joo moved from director general of the financial markets department to deputy governor for international finance and cooperation without serving as director general of the international department ^[8], a stint that had typically come first ^[9]. He joined the BOK in 1997 and has also worked in the monetary policy department ^[10]. Lee Dae-gun, who joined in 2000, has served in financial markets, monetary policy and financial stability ^[12]. Monetary policy experience in both careers is the only direct line to rates in the report.

An official familiar with the BOK, unnamed in the report, said of Choi's selection: "It looks like the idea is to put someone who is market-friendly and understands markets into the international side to manage the domestic foreign exchange market." ^[15] An official familiar with the BOK said the appointments were the governor putting his own personnel vision into practice, departing from established practice ^[16].

In our view the organizational change is documented and the policy conclusion is a bet. The panel could stay a BIS-response forum while deputy governors keep carrying FX and bond analysis. It could widen into the place where rate, currency and bond views are pooled before they reach the governor, as Shin's remarks on exchange rates and bonds would imply. Or the markets-heavy appointments could be personal preference with no process behind them, which the official's remark allows ^[16]. We think the second is the intent and the first is the current record. Later agendas that stay on CBDC, tokenization and cross-border payments would show we are wrong, as would the next director-level promotions returning to the international-department route.