P2P 대출 온라인플랫폼 법제와 사법적 고찰

Abstract

P2P lending is a form of crowdfunding, a type of financial transaction that uses online platform to finance and provide funds between individuals. Domestic P2P lending has been regulated and supervised under guidelines prepared by the Financial Services Commission and the Loan Business Act on the grounds that business type of P2P lending is most similar to the loan business. However, as incidents such as fraud and embezzlement of P2P lenders continued to occur, the Act on Online Investment-Linked Finance Business and User Protection (hereinafter referred to as the‘P2P Lending Act’) was enacted to effectively regulate the characteristics of the P2P lending and to oversee the market. It is in effect from August 27, 2020. The P2P Lending Act stipulates reinforced registration requirements such as the minimum equity capital of P2P lenders, limits investment and borrowing limits, and imposes an obligation to provide sufficient information to investors and borrowers. The protection of investors and borrowers was strengthened through regulations. The statutory penalties for P2P lenders for unregistered business are lower than those for unregistered lenders (brokers). When the P2P lender's fee limit is violated, the Loan Business Act imposes criminal penalties, whereas the P2P lending law imposes only fines, which makes it more likely that existing lenders will be able to illegally acquire unfair fees using P2P lending platform companies to avoid such criminal penalties. In addition, there is a possibility that existing lenders will borrow the names of individual investors and continue to operate loans without registering as lenders through P2P lending platform companies by excluding the application of the Loan Business Act. Several legislative deficiencies should be supplemented by reviewing actual cases that arise from the enforcement of the law in the future. It is also imposing liability for damages on P2P lenders, which is likely to be applied in the future when imposing liability for damages on other types of online platform operators. The domestic P2P lending law seems to have been enacted according to the UK model, but the UK does not regulate P2P lending between corporations, which is different from the domestic situation. In UK, there are no restrictions on investment and borrowing limits, and they are focusing on the protection of borrowers by applying general regulations on financial consumer protection to borrowers. The development and regulation of the P2P lending industry should be properly achieved in applying the P2P lending law in the future, referring to foreign legislation cases.