고위험 금융상품과 금융소비자 보호법제

The various financial products and services we enjoy today are the outcomes of long-standing financial innovation. While these developments have played a key role to meet the needs of financial consumers, they sometimes cause serious damages to financial consumers due to its complex structure or the high possibility of loss. Since the financial crisis in late 2008, discussion on such high-risk financial products have been continued in a wide range perspective of consumer protection. Based on overseas regulations and the Financial Consumer Protection Act in Korea, I would like to discuss the legal issues on high-risk financial products and its future improvements. The establishment of the basic act on consumer protection for high-risk products including business-related regulations, sales restrictions orders and punitive penalty, etc. are definitely significant legislative achievements. However, the concept and definition of a high-risk financial product, that is the beginning of the discussion, need to be more clarified in advance. And it should not be limited in a way to combine derivative characteristics and loss by a product structure itself. In order to enhance the effectiveness of investor protection, an individual or entity that is a professional investor should not be excluded from the protection without reasonable cause, and the consumer’s interest should be considered ahead of financial company’s interest. And the burden of proof with respect to due sales process needs to shifted to the financial company. In addition, standards to withdraw contracts during cooling-off period or terminate illegal contracts for high-risk financial products should be more clearly specified. Last, moderate measures needs to be considered to ensure the effectiveness of the sales restriction order.