Open Decision Ledger · Capital markets & finance
Meaning of transaction under Article 246(5) of the Capital Markets Act
Supreme Court, Dec. 4, 2025, 2024Du40387 (judgment)
Case name: 업무정지등취소의소
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
Does a trustee's adjustment of the bank accounts of collective investment vehicles constitute a 'transaction' prohibited by the main clause of Article 246(5) of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, and how is that to be judged?
Holding
Unless there are special circumstances, the 'transaction' prohibited by the main clause of Article 246(5) of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act means any property act performed with the intention of transferring property, or of creating, changing or extinguishing rights and obligations in property, between the collective investment assets held and managed by the trustee and other such assets. Whether an act concerning those assets is such a transaction must be judged concretely and in each case, weighing together the nature and content of the act, its purpose and circumstances, the legal effect it produces, the parties' true intention, the benefit obtained by the trustee or related persons, the trading practice at the time and the circumstances after the act.
Summary of the holding, verbatim
이러한 취지에 비추어 보면, 자본시장법 제246조 제5항 본문에서 금지하는 ‘거래’란, 특별한 사정이 없는 한 신탁업자가 보관·관리하는 집합투자재산과 다른 집합투자재산 등 사이에서 이루어지는 재산의 이전 또는 그 재산에 관한 권리·의무의 발생·변경·소멸의 의사로써 행하는 일체의 재산상 행위를 의미한다.
Unofficial English translation
In light of the foregoing, 'transaction' prohibited in the main text of Article 246, paragraph (5) of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act means, unless there are special circumstances, all property acts performed with the intention of transferring property between collective investment property held and managed by a trust company and other collective investment property, etc., or of creating, altering, or extinguishing rights or obligations with respect to such property.
Disposition
Reversed and remanded Stated in the decision
원심판결을 파기하고, 사건을 서울고등법원에 환송한다.
Unofficial English translation
The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Seoul High Court.
Form of the test
Circumstances weighed Stated in the decision
여러 사정을 종합적으로 고려하여 구체적·개별적으로 판단해야 한다.
Unofficial English translation
It must be determined concretely and individually by comprehensively considering the various circumstances.
Factors
- 그 행위의 성질과 내용, 목적, 경위
- 이로 인하여 발생되는 법적 효과
- 당사자들의 진정한 의사
- 그 행위를 통하여 얻는 신탁업자 또는 관계인들의 이익
- 당시의 거래관행, 행위 이후의 정황
Unofficial English translation
• The nature and content, purpose, and circumstances of the act
• The legal effects arising therefrom
• The true intention of the parties
• The benefits obtained by the trust company or related persons through such act
• Transaction practices at the time, and circumstances following the act
Relation to precedent
States a new standard Read from the decision
자본시장법 제246조 제5항 본문에서 금지하는 ‘거래’란, 특별한 사정이 없는 한 신탁업자가 보관·관리하는 집합투자재산과 다른 집합투자재산 등 사이에서 이루어지는 재산의 이전 또는 그 재산에 관한 권리·의무의 발생·변경·소멸의 의사로써 행하는 일체의 재산상 행위를 의미한다.
Unofficial English translation
'Transaction' prohibited in the main text of Article 246, paragraph (5) of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act means, unless there are special circumstances, all property acts performed with the intention of transferring property between collective investment property held and managed by a trust company and other collective investment property, etc., or of creating, altering, or extinguishing rights or obligations with respect to such property.
Decisions referred to
해당 본문 참조
Burden of proof
Not addressed Not in the decision
Open question and revisit condition
What conditions must be met for a transaction of the kind permitted by the proviso of Article 246(5) as necessary to operate collective investment assets efficiently and as provided by Presidential Decree?
The remand judgment of the Seoul High Court, which must now examine the elements of a 'transaction' on the record, would show how the standard works in practice. Any amendment to Article 246(5) of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act or to the Presidential Decree setting out the proviso also calls for a fresh reading of this entry.
Cross-family AI independent reading & axis check
6 of 8 axes matched GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI, codex CLI) · 2026-10-24
A reader from another model family (GPT-6 Astra), given the official text but not the primary reading, agreed on 6 of the 8 axes; the readings differed on axis 6 (relation to precedent), axis 8 (open question and revisit condition).
Axis 6 (Relation to precedent): Primary “States a new standard” vs Independent “Cannot be determined”
The express definition and assessment factors may suggest a new standard to the primary reader, while the absence of an explicit account of prior precedent in the supplied text may lead the independent reader to leave that relationship undetermined.
자본시장법 제246조 제5항 본문에서 금지하는 ‘거래’란, 특별한 사정이 없는 한 신탁업자가 보관·관리하는 집합투자재산과 다른 집합투자재산 등 사이에서 이루어지는 재산의 이전 또는 그 재산에 관한 권리·의무의 발생·변경·소멸의 의사로써 행하는 일체의 재산상 행위를 의미한다.Axis 8 (Open question and revisit condition): Primary “What conditions must be met for a transaction of the kind permitted by the proviso of Article 246(5) as necessary to operate collective investment assets efficiently and as provided by Presidential Decree?” vs Independent “What special circumstances could exclude an otherwise qualifying proprietary act from the statutory meaning of a prohibited transaction?”
The primary reading asks about the statutory exception permitting transactions, whereas the independent reading asks about special circumstances excluding an act from the prohibited transaction definition.
이러한 취지에 비추어 보면, 자본시장법 제246조 제5항 본문에서 금지하는 ‘거래’란, 특별한 사정이 없는 한 신탁업자가 보관·관리하는 집합투자재산과 다른 집합투자재산 등 사이에서 이루어지는 재산의 이전 또는 그 재산에 관한 권리·의무의 발생·변경·소멸의 의사로써 행하는 일체의 재산상 행위를 의미한다.Raw responses and comparison record: Protocol · Blind readings (JSONL) · Axis comparison (JSONL) · SHA-256 (JSON)
Lower-court contrast & scope of application
Lower-court reading vs. Supreme Court holding
Lower-court context: The Seoul High Court, in its judgment of 27 March 2024 (2023Nu58413), held that each of the three bank-account adjustments was a property act causing changes in rights and obligations among collective investment assets, and therefore fell within the prohibition in the main clause of Article 246(5) of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act. On that basis it dismissed all of the claims by the two plaintiffs, who argued that the suspension order and the disciplinary measure were unlawful.
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court held that the adjustments were no more than entries into the trust account balance line made to match the amount of the trust account difference shown on the bank-account closing sheet with the mismatch amount in the bank account system, so that the claim of the two asset managers to repayment against the bank's own account did not in fact fall, and the employees had no intention of creating rights and obligations. They were therefore likely to be no more than a mere accounting measure, and the court below misapprehended the meaning and elements of the 'transaction' in Article 246(5) and failed to make the necessary examination, an error affecting the judgment. The judgment was reversed and the case remanded to the Seoul High Court on the unanimous opinion of the participating Justices.
Distinguishing conditions
- An act done with the intention of creating rights and obligations in the property, which the Court found the employees did not have when they made the entries.
- An adjustment to which special circumstances attach, since the meaning of 'transaction' given here applies unless there are special circumstances.
- An adjustment that is an act of the kind the proviso of Article 246(5) permits as necessary to operate collective investment assets efficiently under Presidential Decree, which this decision does not examine.
Record verification notes
Set the file's own facts against the rule: the prepayment of redemption money out of the bank's own property, the mismatch between the fund management system and the bank account system after the closing time, the input of 'other funds' in the deposit-type field and of 'manual / not applicable' in the payment-method field, in entries not linked to actual payment, and the interest still paid at the pre-adjustment balances. Then ask whether the record shows any intention to reduce a claim for repayment, since the Court rested on the absence of that intention.
From the official text
Points at issue
자본시장과 금융투자업에 관한 법률 제246조 제5항 본문에서 금지하는 ‘거래’의 의미 및 신탁업자가 보관·관리하는 집합투자재산을 대상으로 이루어지는 행위가 위 조항의 ‘거래’에 해당하는지 판단하는 방법
Unofficial English translation
The meaning of 'transaction' prohibited in the main text of Article 246, paragraph (5) of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, and the method for determining whether an act performed with respect to collective investment property held and managed by a trust company constitutes a 'transaction' under that provision
Summary of the holding
자본시장과 금융투자업에 관한 법률(이하 ‘자본시장법’이라 한다) 제246조 제5항은 본문에서 "집합투자재산을 보관·관리하는 신탁업자는 자신이 보관·관리하는 집합투자재산을 자신의 고유재산, 다른 집합투자재산 또는 제3자로부터 보관을 위탁받은 재산(이하 통틀어 ‘다른 집합투자재산 등’이라 한다)과 거래하여서는 아니 된다."라고 규정하고, 같은 항 단서에서 ‘집합투자재산을 효율적으로 운용하기 위하여 필요한 경우로서 대통령령이 정하는 경우’에 한하여 그와 같은 거래를 허용하고 있다. 이는 신탁업자가 보관·관리하는 집합투자재산과 다른 집합투자재산 등 사이의 거래로 말미암아 발생할 수 있는 이해관계 충돌을 방지하고 집합투자재산별 독립성 및 그 운용의 투명성을 엄격히 보장함으로써 자본시장의 공정성과 신뢰성을 확보하기 위한 것이다. 이러한 취지에 비추어 보면, 자본시장법 제246조 제5항 본문에서 금지하는 ‘거래’란, 특별한 사정이 없는 한 신탁업자가 보관·관리하는 집합투자재산과 다른 집합투자재산 등 사이에서 이루어지는 재산의 이전 또는 그 재산에 관한 권리·의무의 발생·변경·소멸의 의사로써 행하는 일체의 재산상 행위를 의미한다. 신탁업자가 보관·관리하는 집합투자재산을 대상으로 이루어지는 행위가 위 조항의 ‘거래’에 해당하는지는, 그 행위의 성질과 내용, 목적, 경위, 이로 인하여 발생되는 법적 효과, 당사자들의 진정한 의사, 그 행위를 통하여 얻는 신탁업자 또는 관계인들의 이익, 당시의 거래관행, 행위 이후의 정황 등 여러 사정을 종합적으로 고려하여 구체적·개별적으로 판단해야 한다.
Order
원심판결을 파기하고, 사건을 서울고등법원에 환송한다.
Unofficial English translation
The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Seoul High Court.
Provisions referred to
자본시장과 금융투자업에 관한 법률 제246조 제5항
Read 2026-10-24 · Cross-read 2026-10-24. All quotes matched against the official text. The Chinese-character placeholders the court used for anonymised parties are given in their Korean readings, and parenthetical Chinese-character glosses are omitted.
Every entry is published only after all quotes have been matched character by character against the official text, and audited by an independent second reading from a different model family across all eight axes. Both agreed axes and text-grounded interpretive divergences are recorded openly. The ledger is a research record, not an assessment of the court or advice on any matter.
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