한국은행법상 금융기관의 범위 － 개별 법률에서 은행법상 은행 및 한국은행법상 금융기관으로 보는 경우를 중심으로 －

Article 11 of the Bank of Korea Act prescribes that "(1) The term "financial institutions" in this Act means financial institutions referred to in Article 2 of the Banking Act and bank holding companies referred to in the Financial Holding Companies Acts. (2) Any credit business division of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives shall be deemed a financial institution. (3) Insurance companies and the companies exclusively engaged in mutual savings bank business or trust business shall not be deemed financial institutions."One the other hand, Article 2 of the Banking Act stipulates that "for the purpose of this Act, the definitions of terms shall be as follows: 1. The term "banking business" means a business of lending funds raised by bearing debts from many unspecified persons through the receipt of deposits and issuance of securities and other bonds; 2. The term "banks" means all legal persons other than the Bank of Korea regularly and systematically engaged in the banking business; ......"However, the meaning of banking business and banks in Article 2 of the Banking Act is not so clear that it is difficult to decide whether a certain institution can be a bank or not. In order to solve the problem, it is desirable that banks be enumerated one by one in an Article of the Banking Act. For a new-born institution, the Banking Act should mandate the Enforcement Decree of the Banking Act the power to prescribe that the institution shall be deemed a bank for the purpose of the Banking Act. The Mutual Savings Banks Act and the Credit Unions Act stipulate that the Federation of Saving Banks and the National Credit Union Federation shall be regarded as a bank in Article 2 of the Banking Act and a financial institution in Article 11 of the Bank of Korea Act when they carry out specified activities. But it is unclear that which Articles of the Bank of Korea Act and the Banking Act can be applied to them. So it is desirable that the Bank of Korea Act and the Banking Act by themselves stipulate that such a institution shall be deemed as a bank and a financial institution, and that some specified Articles of the Acts shall be applied to the institution.