With the enactment of the Capital Markets and Financial Investment Business Act
(hereinafter, the “Capital Markets Act”) as of February 4, 2009, derivatives business, trust
business, fund sale business conducted by banks, are now regulated by the Capital Markets
Act. The Capital Markets Act also extends the definition of the Financial Investment Product
to include any product for which the customer's total return is less than the amount paid.
The broad definition of the Financial Investment Product allows regulation of any and all
products with an investment component, which are now existing or will be introduced in the
future. Given such broad definition, there may be products which have characteristics of both
deposits or insurance products and the Financial Investment Product. Thus, it becomes
necessary to discuss the distinction between the Financial Investment Product and deposits or
insurance products under the new legislation. I would like to introduce the “Dual Currency
Deposit” as one of the examples.
Even before the enforcement of the Capital Markets Act, foreign bank branches and some
local banks sold the “Dual Currency Deposit” under the existing banking laws and regulations.
In a “Dual Currency Deposit”, the bank may exercise the currency swap option at the rate
initially agreed, which may result in a loss compared to the amount the customer would have
received at the then current market rate. Due to this investment component, there arises a
dispute whether this product should also be classified as a Financial Investment Product.
However, Article 77 of the Capital Market Act exempts banks from obtaining a license under the Capital Markets Act for selling deposits with an investment component although other
investor protection provisions may still apply. I view that this provision supports the position
that the banks should be allowed to sell the “Dual Currency Deposit” as a banking product
while clear guidelines from the regulators may also help the banks to market and sell the
products in a proper way.