우리나라와 일본의 투자신탁 공시규제에 관한 고찰

For the protection of investors, the investment trust Acts in Japan and Korea have relied mostly on the concept of having each individual approved by the authorities, allowing the disclosure system to provide only supplementary functions. In recent years, however, as the variety of investment trust products has increased and the financial instruments to be dealt with in such funds have become more complicated, it has become more important to ensure that investors are aware that they themselves should be responsible for any investment activities that they undertake, which has increased the importance of the disclosure system. It is from this background that nowadays the disclosure system, rather than the individual policy approval system, plays the major role in protecting investors. One reason that now the protection of investors is accomplished mainly though the disclosure system is because investment in investment trusts, as in the case of investment in other equity products, is accompanied by a state of "non-equilibrium" between investment experts and average investors in terms of both the quality and the quantity of the information that is received, which generally works against average investors. This non-equilibrium of information occurs at the distribution stage of investment trust beneficiary certificates as well as in their issuance stage. When an individual investor is provided with inaccurate or insufficient information, or both, with respect to where and for what purpose the raised fund is invested and what the details of the beneficiary certificates are, it becomes extremely hard for him or her to make a wise investment decision, which eventually works to the person's disadvantage, possibly resulting in investment loss. At the distribution stage, the value of the securities in which an investment trust invests depends upon both the overall economic state and the information available in the financial community. Also, such information as the operational performance and the financial state of the invested company is essential for adequately determining the value of the securities that a fund holds. Unlike at the issuance stage, as the investment trust company is neither engaged in fund raising activities nor in a contractual relationship with investors, one could safely state that the firm is free of the disclosure duty; however, since the investment trust company is an entity that issues beneficiary certificates, raises funds from investors and conducts its business activities by taking advantage of the primary market, it has by law a duty to disclose a sufficient amount of high-quality information to investors. It is from this perspective that this study examines the areas of the disclosure systems that show regulatory differences between Japan and Korea by focusing on timely disclosure and voting right execution, and it identifies as such areas the investment trust article, securities registration form, investment prospectus, asset management report and business report.