글로벌 금융위기와 금융산업의 구조재편 - 금융산업의 역사와 발전전략 -

This Article reviews the restructuring of the global financial services industry that has been going on since the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008. The purpose of the review is to get some lessons to the financial services industry in Korea. Korea has the plan for moving toward the universal banking system that is prevailing in Europe, as well as in the United States since the enactment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999. This Article also studies the historical background of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, along with the developments in the markets that did lead to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. It analyses the discussions towards the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 in terms of the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act. This Article concludes that the developments and discussions in the United States have been shaped largely through politics in the United States then and now, and, accordingly, advises the Korean government not to react to them sensitively. To support the argument it looks into the situation in Germany and Switzerland. This Article agrees to the proposition that commercial banking activities of a universal bank should not stray too far from their central mission of serving their customers. Finally, this Article negatively comments on the Korean government’s plan for the so-called ‘megabank’.