[단독] P2P is the best in court and controversial… Notification of bulk business suspension

Input 2021.01.19 13:00

P2P (online investment-linked finance) companies are on the verge of going out of business. Only P2P companies registered with the Financial Services Commission by August are allowed to operate, so each company must resolve legal issues before registration, but the financial authorities have now given interest to companies that received interest in excess of the previous legal maximum interest rate (24% per year). This is due to a notice of the suspension of business. If the business is suspended, registration is impossible for three years and the door is closed.

In the P2P industry, except for platform fees, the legal maximum interest rate has not been exceeded, but it is a position that it is excessive to calculate the total. This is because it was not clear that the regulation that fees were treated as interest, and corporations receiving fees and interest were clearly separated. There are many cases of exceeding the legal maximum interest rate, but if all are suspended without consideration of the P2P structure, only a few will survive in the end.

According to the financial authorities and the P2P industry on the 19th, six P2P companies have recently been suspended from business as a result of the Sanctions Deliberation Committee of the Financial Supervisory Service for as little as 3 months and as long as 6 months. Most of these companies are real estate P2P specialists, including small and medium-sized companies as well as large companies that are at the top of the industry. The Financial Supervisory Service has sent an opinion of the suspension of business to the Financial Services Commission, and the Financial Services Commission plans to determine the disciplinary level in February.

These companies were suspended because they received interest in excess of the legal maximum interest rate from borrowers. P2P companies are divided into’platform companies’ that broker loans between individuals and’linked loan companies’, which are financial corporations. According to the current loan business law, whatever the name is, whatever the lender receives in relation to the loan is regarded as interest, and the sum of the platform fee received by the P2P company and the interest received by the affiliated lender exceeds 24% per year.

The financial authorities made this judgment by considering that the two corporations were substantially the same, but the industry argues that this calculation is not correct as they are strictly independent corporations. A company official who received the opinion of the suspension of business said, “As a result of receiving advice from a law firm, P2P companies recruit investors, and linked lenders perform independent tasks such as loans and repayments, and fees are not transferred to lenders. I received an opinion that it could not be included.”

It is the industry position that it was not clear until the enactment of the On2nd Act whether or not P2P company platform fees can be viewed as interest. In 2017, when a P2P company was accused of violating the Loan Business Act, the Financial Services Commission responded to the court that “platform fees are not judged by the interest stipulated in the Loan Business Act.” However, he changed his position and said that in the 2018 P2P guidelines, it is “regarded as interest”, but this is a recommendation that is not legally enforced.

An industry insider said, “In February 2019, the Financial Services Commission again interpreted the content that the commission was deemed to be interest, but nobody in the industry knew whether the Financial Services Commission made such an interpretation.” I haven’t even had it, but it’s unfair to have a problem now.”

In particular, real estate P2P companies mainly proceed with project financing (PF) loans, some point out that they lack understanding. PF loans are paid separately after the contract is made according to the construction period. An industry official said, “PF loans may appear to exceed the interest rate when combined with the platform fee on the last loan with a short loan period. This was not calculated arbitrarily by the industry, but calculated according to the guidelines for the supervision of the loan business. I’m doing it.”

The problem is that if the industry’s claim is not accepted and a business suspension is confirmed, it will be difficult to formally register according to the On2nd Act. If business is suspended, it cannot be registered with the Financial Services Commission for 3 years regardless of the period. Since August, companies that are not registered with the Financial Services Commission will not be able to operate, so they must go through the procedure of closing.

An industry insider said, “Companies that exceeded the maximum interest rate due to lack of understanding of interest calculation, not malicious interest, can sufficiently resolve the situation through corrective measures such as return, but uniform business suspension is excessive.” If it were, there would be many cases of violating the legal maximum interest rate, but if all of them were suspended and the industry passed, it would eventually return to investor damage.”