유사투자자문업 규제 개선방안 연구

The Quasi-investment advisory business such as ‘leading room’ is a unique system and phenomenon observed only in Korea. Despite the growing risk recently, the current Capital Market Act(FSCMA) adopts a soft regulation called a reporting system, making it difficult to protect investors and establish a sound market order. This article clarifies that many of the business activities currently referred to as the quasi-investment advisory business are illegal activities and, in fact, close to the official investment advisory business outside the scope of the law and regulation. Therefore the paper in principle insists that the regulation on this be converted into a registration system as the official investment advisory business does. However, considering the minimum positive function of providing investment advice to individual investors, it proposes a dualized regulatory system in which the quasi-investment advisory business may be maintained under the reporting system and provides the originally expected business activities stipulated by the Act. The contents of the registration system for quasi-investment advisory business are as follows: 1. The business name shall be “Investment information business” or “Investment information providing business” to distinguish it from the official investment advisory business. 2. As for the business unit of the ‘Investment information providing business’, a new subordinate business unit is established within the current investment advisory business, and investment target assets are limited to securities only. 3. The minimum equity capital should be at least 100 million won. 4. As registration requirements, professional qualifications such as investment counselors and some experiences in securities market, and disqualification requirements for major shareholders and executives shall be established. 5. Fiduciary duties(duty of care and duty of loyalty) are required as basic principles to avoid conflicts of interest; and in addition to Section 98, Section 97 of the Act for the fairness of contracts shall apply mutatis mutandis to the ‘Investment information providing business’; and the application of the principal common duties of customer protection (appropriateness test and duty of explanation) shall be deferred.