금융부문의 발전과 법·제도의 역할: 주요 선진국들의 신용정보공유제도 분석을 중심으로

Credit reporting agencies can be classified into two types. One is credit bureau(CB), which is well developed in the Anglo-Saxon countries. The other is public credit registry(PCR), which has been established in most countries on the Continent of Europe. The existing literature stresses legal origins and the level of income as determinants of the structure of credit information sharing system. This study, however, places special emphasis on the significant role of incentive problems concerning voluntary information sharing, which can be related to economic development process, as an additional determinant. The fact that industrialization in the U.K. and the U.S. resulted from private efforts in which the state did not participate has been instrumental in the evolution of their market-oriented financial system. CB, which is an institutional arrangement for voluntary exchange of credit information, is an invention of the market-oriented system suited to the peculiar needs of American society, where creditors needed to obtain information on individuals whose business experiences frequently were dispersed over a wide territory. In contrast, the process of industrialization on the Continent of Europe has been actively state-assisted and sometimes state-engendered. It was assisted by specific measures in the finance area, such as the creation of special-purpose banks designed to provide finance for industry. In other words, the role of supply-leading finance was emphasized in the banking sector to catch up the economic power as backward economies relative to the Anglo-Saxon countries. In this environment, it is difficult that financial institutions have enough incentives for voluntary exchange of information. That is why PCR, which is a direct intervention of government in the credit market, is so popular as credit reporting agencies in most countries on the Continent of Europe.