상호금융기관 지배구조 개선방안

초록

The recent surge in delinquency rates at mutual financial institutions has raised questions about whether they are operating in line with their established purposes. Given that not only do supervisory authority over credit operations vary across mutual financial institutions, but also regulations related to governance often differ, the argument for reforming this system and applying the principle of equal function and equal regulation is gaining traction. This article examines potential improvement measures, focusing on governance regulations. First, the issue of executive agency needs to be addressed. This includes limiting the long-term tenure of the chairman (or union president), strengthening the union members' ability to check and balance executives, and improving the executive election process. Second, the expertise of executives must be enhanced. To achieve this, the scope of unions subject to mandatory appointment of standing directors must be expanded, and the expertise of non-standing executives must also be strengthened. Third, the operation of the general meeting and board of directors must be improved. This includes improving the way members exercise their voting rights and vote at the general meeting, improving the quorum system for the general meeting, improving the composition and role of the delegates' meeting, expanding the board's authority by transferring some of the general meeting's decisions to the board of directors, and relaxing requirements for minority members to exercise their rights. Fourth, the internal control system must be improved. This includes clearly defining the internal control roles of the board of directors and management, introducing internal control standards and a compliance officer system, expanding the mandatory appointment of standing auditors, ensuring their independence, and introducing a term limit system, to enhance the accounting transparency and reliability of cooperatives, all mutual financial institutions should be required to apply the strengthened standards of credit unions (assets of KRW 30 billion or more, annually). In the mid- to long-term, cooperatives above a certain size, such as joint-stock companies, subject to external audits under the External Audit Act should be required to undergo external audits. Fifth, ultimately, to improve the governance structure of mutual financial institutions, it is necessary to enact a law that integrates the complex regulatory framework currently governed by individual laws: the Mutual Financial Institutions Governance Act. While modeling the basic structure after the Act on Corpotate Governance of Financial Companies, is desirable to reflect the differences in the characteristics of joint-stock companies and cooperatives.

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