다른 금융기관과 마찬가지로 금융지주회사의 경영지배구조도 이사회 중심의 사외이사 제도, 감사 대신 설치되는 감사위원회 제도, 내부통제 및 준법감시인 제도로 이루어져 있다. 관련 법령으로는 「금융지주회사법」과 시행령이 적용되며, 특히 금융지주회사가 상장회사인 경우에는 「상법」상의 상장회사 특례 규정도 적용되는데, 이에 따라 두 법이 서로 상충되는 경우에는 해석상의 문제점도 발생한다. 우선 사외이사 제도와 관련해서는 「금융지주회사법」상 금융지주회사는 사외이사 3인 이상을 두어야 하며, 총 이사 중 2분의 1 이상이 사외이사이어야 한다. 사외이사는 사외이사후보추천위원회의 추천을 받아 선임되며 일정한 결격 요건에 해당되어서는 아니 된다. 이사회 산하 위원회인 감사위원회도 적어도 3분의 2 이상이 사외이사로 구성되어야 하며, 감사위원도 감사위원후보추천위원회의 추천을 받아 이사회나 주주총회에서 선임된다. 내부통제와 준법감시인 제도와 관련해서는, 2012년 4월 15일부터 시행되는 개정 「상법」이 준법통제 및 준법지원인 제도를 도입하고 있어서 자산 총액이 5,000억 원 이상인 상장회사인 금융지주회사의 경우에 별도의 준법지원인을 두어야 하는 지에 관한 논란이 있으나, 상법 시행령이 금융관계법에 따라 준법감시인을 둔 경우에는 예외를 인정하고 있어 실무적으로는 해결되었다. 다만 법 체계상으로는 문제가 있다. 개선 방안으로는 금융지주회사의 사외이사 구성 비율을 50% 이상에서 과반수로 할 것, 사외이사후보추천위원회의 사외이사 구성 비율도 과반수 내지 전원 사외이사로 할 것, 대표이사(사장)의 이사회 의장 겸임 금지, 대표이사(사장) 선임 절차의 법제화, 사외이사 후보군(pool)의 운영, 금융지주회사의 완전자회사 등에 대한 사외이사 설치 면제 특례 규정의 개선, 현재 이사회와 주주총회로 나누어져 있는 감사위원 선임권자의 통일화, 주주총회에서의 감사위원 선임 시 현행 이사 선임 후 감사위원 선출 절차의 단일화, 완전자회사 등에 대한 감사위원회 설치 면제 특례 규정의 개선, 금융지주회사법에 준법지원인 선임 면제 규정의 명확화 및 현행 준법지원인 제도의 개선을 제안하고 있다.
The issue of corporate governance for financial institutions in Korea has been in the spotlight since the 1997 financial crisis in Korea. It was argued that such insolvency of many financial institutions during that time had been due to bad corporate governance of financial institutions. Thus, reformative measures have been so taken that the "outside director system", the "audit committee system," and the "internal control and compliance officer system" have been introduced in financial institutions, including a financial holding company, respectively.
This article seeks to analyze legal issues of corporate governance of a financial holding company, under the Financial Holding Company Act of 2000 (the "FHCA") and the Enforcement Decree thereof as well as under the Commercial Code which includes the relevant provisions applicable to a listed company in terms of corporate governance, and to suggest some recommendations for improvements. Thus, this article suggests the following recommendations. First, outside directors of the board of directors of a financial holding company should be a majority, rather than the current 50%, in order to enhance the roles of outside directors. Second, the number of outside directors in the composition of an "outside director candidate recommendation committee" should be also increased to the majority or that committee should consist of all outside directors, in order to select more independent outside directors. Third, a representative director or a chief executive officer of a financial holding company should not serve as a chairman of the board of directors because he or she might have a great influence on the decision of the board of directors by such a concurrent position. Fourth, a pool of outside director candidates should be established and operated by an independent self-regulatory organization. Fifth, the relevant provision of procedures for selecting a representative director of a financial holding company (i.e., establishment of a representative director candidate recommendation committee) should be introduced in the FHCA for allowing a more qualified representative director to be selected. Sixth, the current system where a whole-owned subsidiary or sub-subsidiary financial institution is exempt from establishing outside directors should be abolished or improved, even though there exist no minority shareholders, in order to protect creditors of such a financial institution, including depositors or investors. Seventh, the current system of selecting audit committee members by the board of directors in case of a non-listed or medium-sized listed financial holding company or by the resolution of shareholder meetings in case of a large-sized listed financial holding company should be consolidated into the selection by the resolution of shareholder meetings, and the current two steps of selecting directors and then selecting audit committee members among such selected directors by the shareholder meetings' resolutions in case of a large-sized listed financial holding company should be streamlined into the direct selection of audit committee members in the shareholder meetings. Eighth, the exemption of establishing an audit committee in case of a whole-owned subsidiary or a sub-subsidiary financial institution should be also abolished or improved. Finally, legislative measure (i.e., insertion of exemption clause in the FHCA) has to be taken in order that a listed financial holding company whose recent total assets exceed 500 billion Won and operates the internal control and compliance officer system under the FHCA be exempt from the requirement of the compliance control and compliance officer system under the Commercial Code, although this exemption is prescribed under the Enforcement Decree of the Commercial Code, for more clarification from the legal perspective.
