플랫폼제공자 P2P 보험모델의 법적 성격에 관한 고찰

A Study on the Legal Nature of Platform Provider P2P Insurance Model

인슈어테크의 발전과 함께 해외에서 P2P 보험이 확산하고 있다. P2P 보험이란 소비자 스스로 위험단체를 구성하고 자체적으로 위험을 부담하되, 보험기간 만료시 지급보험금을 제외한 잔액이 남는 경우 소비자에게 환급하는 제도로 정의할 수 있다. P2P 보험의 유형에는 보험중개업자 모델, 보험회사 모델, 플랫폼제공자 모델이 있으며, 특히 보험회사가 개입하지 않고 위험단체 내부적으로 위험을 전면적으로 분담하는 플랫폼제공자 모델을 중심으로 보험원리 측면의 개념요소 구비 여부를 검토할 필요가 있다. 보험 개념에 관한 기능적 접근방식에 의하면 실질적인 위험의 전가･분산이 있다면 보험성을 갖춘 것으로 보고, 또한 판례에 의하면 엄격한 대수의 법칙 적용은 보험제도의 필수 요소는 아니다. 이러한 점을 고려하면 플랫폼제공자 모델의 보험성은 부인되지 않는다. P2P 보험의 보험성을 전제로 계속 검토하면, 상호부조라는 배경, 공동체적 자치주의, 잉여금의 재분배, 비영리성 등을 고려할 때 상호보험과 유사하다. 따라서 동 모델의 P2P 보험은 상호보험 또는 그에 준한 계약으로서, 상법 제664조에 의해 그 성질에 반하지 않는 범위에서 상법 보험편이 준용될 수 있다. 본 연구는 P2P 보험이라는 새로운 경제적 현상의 법률적 성격을 규명하고자 하였다. 그런데 IT 기술의 극단적 발전으로 현대적 보험제도가 오히려 보험의 원시형태인 상호보험의 모습으로 회귀하는 역설적 의미는 시사하는 바가 크다. 한편, P2P 보험 유형에 따라 전통적 법리를 그대로 적용하기 어려운 문제가 발생할 수 있는데, 향후 국내 도입의 구체화와 함께 다양한 법적 쟁점들에 대한 검토가 계속 수반되어야 할 것이다.

P2P insurance is an insurance system in which consumers(peer to peer) form an insurance group on their own and bear the risk of a certain amount of loss, but when the insurance period expires, the balance excluding insurance payments is refunded by the consumer’s designation. Although it has not yet been fully introduced in Korea, it is developing into various types in overseas, such as an intermediary model, an insurer model, and a platform provider model. Even though their appearances are different, if the common concept elements are extracted, the organization of risk groups led by insurance consumers, the absence of risk transfer to insurance companies, autonomy of the operation of risk groups, and insurance premiums are refunded when insurance expires. In order to introduce P2P insurance as a new insurance system, it is problematic how it can be covered under the existing insurance law. In particular, it is necessary to review whether it conforms to the definition of insurance and conceptual elements in terms of insurance principles. In this regard, discussions were conducted focusing on the platform provider model, which is the most advanced form of allocating risks internally to members of risk groups without any external insurers intervening. According to the functional approach to the concept of insurance, even if there is no insurance company like the P2P insurance of the platform provider model, if a certain size of subscribers is gathered and the function of actual risk transfer/distribution is performed, it is considered to have the essence of insurance. In addition, since the court does not view the calculation of premiums according to the law of large numbers strictly as an indispensable element of insurance, even if P2P insurance is based on a small risk group, the nature of insurance should not be denied because of its size. As such, the P2P insurance of the platform provider model has the nature of insurance in terms of insurance principle, and it has a similarity to the traditional mutual insurance in consideration of the background of mutual aid, communal autonomy, redistribution of surplus, and non-profit. Therefore, the platform provider model of the P2P insurance is mutual insurance or a contract equivalent thereto, and according to Article 664 of the Commercial Act, the provisions of the Commercial Act insurance section can be applied mutatis mutandis. This study attempted to clarify the legal nature of a new economic phenomenon called P2P insurance, a new insurance system that was still before its introduction in South Korea. However, the paradoxical meaning of the modern insurance system returning to the form of mutual insurance, which is the root form of insurance due to the 4th industrial revolution and extreme development of IT technology, needs to be considered at this time. The three types of P2P insurance differ in detail, but in a large framework, the role of the existing insurer is reduced and the role of policyholders increases. Therefore, there is a problem that the traditional legal principles on insurance cannot be applied consistently, and a review of various legal issues should be accompanied with the concrete introduction in the future.