예금자보호법상 예금자보호기구의 개선방안에 관한 연구- 보험 영역을 중심으로 -

Abstract

Insurance contracts in Korea are treated as a kind of financial product that is subject to the depositor protection system and protects them in the same way as deposits. In addition, without considering the difference between non-life insurance and life insurance, the protection method, fund management and insurance limits of non-life insurance and life insurance also adhere to and maintain a uniform method. This method is operated by some countries including Korea. This is in contrast to national operating attitude in the majority of countries that do not include insurance companies as depositor protection category. In most countries where depositor protection is in place, depositor protection is only limited to banks or deposits. Compared to the characteristics of deposits with a fixed amount of “principal guarantee”, in case of insurance, the contract is maintained through the same method as the contract transfer or reinsurance, even when the insurance company goes bankrupt. Therefore, there is less need for depositor protection in the area of insurance. For the purpose of the protection of individual customers, a separate protection system should be operated for each financial product, and in particular, insurance should be applied differently from money lending or investment transactions due to the nature of “cost of providing insurance services”. Since the characteristics of each insurance product and insurance element are very diverse and complex, it is necessary to provide protection mechanisms by distinguishing them. Insurance needs to seek ways to focus on protecting policyholders independently of the current integrated depositor protection system. In conclusion, measures should be devised that reflect the characteristics of deposits and insurance. Life insurance has relatively a long-term contract and a lot of savings insurance, so there will be many cancellation refunds, but non-life insurance has many short-term contracts and guarantee insurance is mainly composed, and the procedure of calculating insurance claims when paying insurance claims is very important. In this regard, separate depositor protection mechanisms should be established, taking into account the each characteristics of life insurance and non-life insurance.