금융환경의 변화와 금융소비자학회의 역할- 금융소비자보호법의 실효성 제고를 중심으로 -

This article describes what I felt when I was asked to present a presentation at the 「2023 Summer Conference」 held at Korea Maritime & Ocean University in Busan for two days from August 24 to 25, 2023, and served as the president of the Korean Academy of Financial Consumers in 2022. Korea has recognized the damage of financial consumers as an incidental problem in the process of pursuing rapid economic growth. Various measures to resolve the information asymmetry between financial companies and financial consumers are essential elements for the formation of a fair and transparent financial market and the development of the financial industry. The Phrase of “Financial consumers must be protected” does not mean that financial companies always have to concede and bear the loss. It is natural for financial consumers to take responsibility for the contents and results set forth in the contract for the sale of financial products. However, given the complex nature of financial transactions, when a financial companies makes a transaction with a general financial consumer, it should fully understand the terms of the transaction, profit and loss, and risks, and provide suitable financial products to the financial consumers so that financial consumers do not lose their trust and confidence. Meanwhile, as the center of financial product transactions shifts to non-face- to-face channels, difficulties arise in the application of traditional financial consumer protection laws that assume face-to-face transactions. In a non-face-to-face channel where all services are provided unilaterally and sequentially and recorded automatically, financial consumers have to take responsibility for their own choices while enduring procedural inconvenience. In other words, there are many situations in which financial consumers are forced to use non-face-to-face channels that follow unilateral procedures, but their rights are not properly protected. Therefore, assuming various types of damage that may occur in non-face-to-face transactions in advance, prepare a mechanism to quickly respond to the protection of financial consumers, such as the explanation obligation to suitable for non-face-to-face transactions, implementation of the suitability rule, and improvement of the dispute settlement system ete.