The publication of the European Commission’s long-awaited EU Retail Investment Strategy is an important moment, as creating the necessary conditions to grow retail investor participation in capital markets is key for the future of both the European economy and EU citizens. Within the strategy, we see positive elements which the fund industry has long encouraged, such as digital-by-default disclosures, the preservation of both fee- and commission-based distribution models, and comparable rules for all types of investment products.

European asset managers continue to urge policymakers to support the European Parliament’s proposal for an Equities/ETFs consolidated tape which includes 5 layers of real-time pre-trade data.  Market participants, including the European buy and sell-sides have consistently maintained that a post-trade only equities/ETFs consolidated tape will not meet with the market demand required to make the tape commercially viable. Tanguy van de Werve, Director General of EFAMA, stated: “This would be a legislative se

18 European buy-side firms, including Union, Generali, Invesco, Legal and General, Schroders and Baillie Gifford, have today declared their full support for the European Parliament’s proposal on the Equities Consolidated Tape.  In a letter to policymakers, they state that only an Equities/ETFs tape that delivers data in real-time and that includes pre-trade data in the form of 5 layers of best bid and offer, will meet with the necessary market demand to make the Equities/ETFs Consolidated Tape commercially viable.

EFAMA has today published its response to the European Commission’s EMIR 3.0 proposal. We support the EC’s goal of increasing the attractiveness of EU central clearing counterparties (CCPs), including simplified product approvals, faster model change authorisations, and greater margin model transparency. A new clearing threshold calculation is also proposed, which further aligns the Clearing Obligation with the rest of the EMIR regulation.