K-bank and KaKao Bank, Korea's first Internet primary bank, started operations in April and
July of 2017, respectively. They have been successful since their launch. However, the debate
over important legal issues regarding Internet primary banking is continuing. The regulation
on the separation of banking and commerce means the 「Banking Act」 stipulation that
industrial capital can not be acquired in excess of 4% of voting stocks of national banks or
10% of stock including 4% of voting stocks. It is important to prevent the bank from abusing
it as a safeguard for industrial capital. However, some argue that as ICT firms plays an
important role in Internet primary banking, supervisory administrative agency should relax
regulation on the separation of banking and commerce of internet primary bank.
However, The opinion has limitations in that it can not completely accomplish the purpose
of the existing regulation for separation of banking and commerce as a means of strengthening
various regulations, licensing review and strengthening supervision to substitute for the
regulation. Considering the need for protection of bank users, it is not necessary to ease
regulations only for Internet primary bank sector. the efficiency aspect of decision making
within an Internet bank can not be a priority for the public interest in securing the fairness
of the banking industry, and it is not reasonable to unilaterally borrow foreign legislation in
consideration of the specificity of the Korean economy. Therefore, the regulation on the
separation of banking and commerce should be applied equally to internet primary banking.
In the meantime, the technical innovation of the Internet primary bank has raised new issues
in the protection of users. Therefore, the importance of financial security is emphasized due
to non-face blindness authentication, simplification of transaction procedures and increase in utilization of big data. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen pre- and post-regulations on
security, such as allowing computer equipment to be pre-approved when entrusted to IT
specialists. In addition, the use of big data in credit evaluation is emphasized, and it is
necessary to improve the legal system to eliminate the confusion caused by the unclear
standards of the current 「Personal Information Protection Act」 and related laws. In the
process, related laws should be revised to improve both the use of big data such as
non-discrimination standards of personal information and the level of personal information
protection.