일본 보험지주회사 입법 그리고 한국 보험지주회사론

Abstract

In the past history of Japan and Korea, holding companies were restrained or strictly allowed. There is almost no precedent where law has wholly forbid the holding companies like Korea. After Japan has turned its way into restrictively allowing holding companies, there were criticisms that there is no system which prohibits entire systems of holding companies. There are many areas where the shift of paradigm are demanded or is currently happening since the IMF economy crisis. Today, holding companies are rather recommended due to many factors, especially to promote transparency in corporate governance to attract the foreign investors. Holding companies are recommended which were restrained or tabooed in the past. This is somewhat ironical. Korean law system divides financial holding companies and normal holding companies, accordingly to ‘separation of financial and industrial capital’ principle. By dividing mutual business department, it restricts acquirement of stocks. As a part of financial holding companies, insurance holding companies are also regulated at the same time, and the fact that foreign law systems fractionizes the financial holding companies and strengthen and loosen the strictness of regulations, there is a debate whether unnecessary regulations are applied. This paper will overlook the regulations of insurance holding companies in Japan insurance law, and find the positive points that can be applied to Korea. However there are differences in social environment between Korea and Japan, thus two countriesshould not be treated the same. It is a known fact that insurance companies are playing a great role in order to not to conflict the problem between chaebeols’ concentration of economy with the restrictions on holding companies. On the other hand, in Japan, insurance companies are in no relations with the core of the problem of economy concentrations. For that reason, the proposition ‘just because Japan apply soft regulations to insurance holding companies, differently to financial holding companies, that Korea should separate insurance holding companies from financial holding companies and apply soft regulations’, is a misunderstanding of the core of the discussion.