On the 23rd, Kim Hye-mi, a research fellow at the Hana Financial Management Research Institute, presented this opinion in the report,’The need for de facto regulation of intermediary behavior of platform companies.
It is ambiguous whether the legal nature of the platform company’s financial product information provision, solicitation, recommendation, brokerage, etc. Even if the platform company recommends a financial product through data analysis and then the consumer goes to the website of a financial company to purchase the product, it is classified as an advertisement under the current law.
If classified as an advertisement, the platform company is not liable under the current law even if a problem occurs with the product. In addition, the report pointed out that there is a possibility of incomplete sales because there is no’explaining duty’ as to whether the financial product information is provided accurately and sufficiently in advertisements. There is a possibility that consumers will mistake the platform company to manufacture and sell financial products.
Overseas, the UK and Japan began to regulate the provision of product information and brokerage of platform companies.
Ilbo launched a financial service brokerage business in June last year. The financial service brokerage business is in charge of brokering financial products of various industries and companies. Accordingly, legal responsibilities and obligations such as the duty to explain, the duty of integrity, and the duty to disclose fees and contract relationships have been greatly strengthened. The report said, “If a platform company provides or solicits personalized financial product information, it will classify it as a financial service broker and regulate it.”
In the UK, the Competition Market Authority (CMA) has jurisdiction over the financial product comparison platform and applies the Consumer Protection Standard (CPR). As for the loan/insurance comparison platform, the Financial Supervisory Service (FCA) also has regulatory authority. In particular, the report said that the linking of the loan/comparison platform is regarded as a credit brokerage and requires approval of a credit brokerage business.
The report suggested that domestic financial authorities include the brokerage of platform companies in the subject of the Financial Consumer Protection Act. In addition, it was necessary to strengthen consumer protection by imposing an obligation to comply with the six sales principles when brokering products. Loan platforms and insurance brokerage platforms are classified as proxy brokers under the Financial Law. However, financial product recommendations classified as advertisements under the current law are not subject to the law.
In the long run, the report pointed out that a financial product brokerage business should be introduced as in Japan and the brokerage of platform companies should be regulated as brokerage businesses.
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