전자지급서비스 이용자 보호 강화를 위한 법적 과제

Easy money transfer services based on e-money have experienced tremendous growth. They are playing a key role in the small amount payment, and their growth is led by fintech companies. Electronic payment methods issued by non-bank payment service providers, such as fintech companies, have become at the center of innovation in payment systems, but there are some gaps in existing regulation since the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, which regulates them, has not been revised appropriately. For these reasons, legal issues arise regarding the protection of consumers of electronic payment services that were not previously predicted, and improving legislation has emerged as an important task. Focusing on the need to enhance the protection of customer funds and the need to strengthen the obligation to provide information and explain important matters related to the use of electronic payment services, this article examined problems of the existing regulatory framework of e-money in Korea and sought regulatory approaches. In particular, this article emphasized that it is necessary to consider theoretical grounds suitable for the regulatory response regarding the revision of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act to strengthen the protection of users based on analysis of the characteristics and structure of electronic payment service contracts. For this reason, this article examined the relational contract theory that emerged to overcome the limitations of classical contract theory which has limitations in addressing specialized and complex legal relations, and also reviewed the applicability and limitation of this theory to e-money contract. As a theoretical basis for constructing the legal principle for safeguarding customer funds, it was explored that the legal relationship between e-money issuers and users constitutes a fiduciary relationship, and sought a better regulatory framework to protect consumers of electronic payment services based on the fiduciary duty of electronic payment service provider including e-money issuer. Adding a general provision on the fiduciary duty of payment service providers to the Electronic Financial Transactions Act could be a turning point in overcoming the limitations of the existing regulatory framework and enhancing the electronic payment service consumer protection. Also, relational contract theory and fiduciary law principles could provide the theoretical basis necessary to develop the principle-based regulatory approach about enhancing the electronic payment service consumer protection. 주제어(Keywords):전자지급서비스(Electronic Payment Services), 이용자 보호(Consumer Protection), 전자금융거래법(Electronic Financial Transactions Act), 관계적 계약이론(Relational Contract Theory), 신인관계(Fiduciary Relationship), 신인의무(Fiduciary Duty), 선불전자지급수단(E-money), 간편송금(Easy Money Transfer Services), 금융규제(Financial Regulation)