고난도 금융투자상품과 투자자보호- 적합성원칙과 관련하여 -

Recently, investors who purchased derivatives-linked-funds based on the interest rates of major countries suffered huge losses. The investors claimed that the banks that sold the products had failed to fully abide by the suitability and disclosure requirements. The Financial Supervisory Commission(FSC) looked into this issue and announced 「Measures to strengthen investor protection with high-risk investment products」 which contained reform measures aimed at enhancing consumer protection especially for ‘high-risk investment products’ as known as ‘complex financial products’. In EU, complex financial products are distinguished from non-complex products Under MiFID II and ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) has developed detailed criteria on the assessment of complexity and provided opinions and guidelines on practices selling complex products. IOSCO (International Organization of Securities Commission) has published 9 principles for suitability requirements with respect to the distribution of complex financial products standards and performed a thematic review on the observance of these principles by the Members. On the whole their regulatory framework for suitability requirements with respect to complex products are similar to those for traditional plain vanilla products. Only that, with regard to complex products, product due diligence and disclosure requirements are strengthened, and that intermediaries are required to have sufficient information on the products and fully understand them, to provide information concerning alternative products with less risks and costs, and to have internal policies and procedures to ensure they prioritize customers’ best interests. As growing complexity of financial products exposes more retail customers to higher risks, FSC’s recent move to define ‘high-risk investment products’ with tightened investor protection measures is an improvement. Yet there are some points that call for complement: more detailed criteria should be provided for the definition of complex products and assessment of complexity; intermediaries’ distributing complex products should be required to establish incentive policies consistent with the best interests of consumers; and disclosure requirements should also be applied to the sales of complex products to non-retail consumers.