전자증권제도의 시행과 주주명부제도 개선과제

Along with the Fourth Industrial Revolution which has been exposed and used widely in our daily lives, the electronic securities system that will have much influence on ordinary people as well as government, financial institution and corporation will be introduced soon. Under this system, securities are issued in the digital format, not in the physical one and its circulation and all sorts of corporate actions are processed based on this system, which is expected to change the overall aspects of capital markets and corporation management. Originally the electronic securities system has its roots in the securities depository system which was introduced during the continuous quantitative growth and qualitative development of early capital market where physical securities were issued and circulated. However, the limitations of physical securities such as risks of theft or loss, job processing costs and procedural opportunity costs led to the emergence of electronic securities system. Electronic securities system is expected to have the strongest influence on the stock in reality while it can be basically applied to nearly all the type of securities which are issued and circulated in the current capital markets. That is because stock is the instrument for raising capital, the most representative financial investment instruments and the one which determines corporate structure. In this case, as the main system for the management of the ownership of stocks and its changes, stockholder's list system is expected to change much by the introduction of electronic securities system. Therefore stockholders and issuing companies need to react to this change accordingly. Basically stockholder's list is the ledger used when an issuing company completes the details of equity, stock certificate and the its ownership, based on the Business Law. However, once the electronic securities system is introduced, physical securities are issued no longer and only owners of electronic securities are registered on the electronic ledger in a real-time basis. Then, stockholder's list is completed by the electronic registration institution's making owner's list. In this case, preparation period for stockholder's list can be shortened much, which enables the issuing company to manage stockholders timely. Also, issuing companies can perform corporate restructuring such as M&A more efficiently utilizing the increased reasons for making stockholder's list according to the Electronic Securities Act. The originally intended effect of stockholder's list system by the introduction of electronic securities system can be obtained only in the case where both the close cooperation among participants and the efforts for system improvements are backed up. At the same time, the establishment of operation system among related institutions and modification of related laws and regulations are the necessary factors for the system vitalization and early stabilization.