EFAMA appreciates the opportunity to share our views on the European Commission’s consultation on enhancements to the suitability and appropriateness assessments forming part of the wider, upcoming Retail Investment Strategy.
EFAMA monitors issues surrounding fund distribution and disclosures to investors. These include investor protection and disclosure issues arising from the evolving PRIIPs and MiFID frameworks, the shift towards digital distribution tools, and the continued integration of ESG considerations into fund products.
EFAMA appreciates the opportunity to share our views on the European Commission’s consultation on enhancements to the suitability and appropriateness assessments forming part of the wider, upcoming Retail Investment Strategy.
EFAMA continues to support the overarching aim of the PRIIP KID as a single pre-disclosure document for all types of investment products.
EFAMA believes that the ESAs Joint Call for Evidence on PRIIPs and any subsequent proposals for revision of the PRIIPs Regulation should come after assessing in practice the revised PRIIPs RTS to be implemented from 31 December 2022, both to retail AIFs and UCITS.
We welcome yesterday's vote by the European Parliament plenary formally adopting two ‘quick fixes’ for PRIIPs (Packaged retail investments and insurance-based products) and UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities).
Andreas Stepnitzka, EFAMA Deputy Director, Regulatory Policy, comments:
EFAMA provided high-level comments to the Commission’s consultation on the potential review of the Directive on Distance Marketing of Consumer Financial Services.
We agree with the Commission’s interpretation that the Directive is seen as a “safety net” for financial services not already subject to product-specific legislation. Fund and asset managers are already subject to various, more stringent and detailed sectoral legislations, such as (but not limited to) UCITS, AIFMD and MiFID as well as the (more recent) Cross-Border Fund Distribution Directives.
EFAMA and several other financial industry associations, raised concerns in response to a consultation conducted by the European Commission on planned changes to the Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs) framework.
The unexpected delay to the adoption of the revised PRIIPs RTS cuts the implementation period for the industry by more than two months. This leaves PRIIPs manufacturers and distributors with a too short period instead of the original timeframe of 12 months to implement the new rules.
Funds face unique challenges in performing intermediary oversight, and especially so because of MiFID II requirements, changing regulatory landscapes, and the absence of an industry agreed-upon standard between funds and their distribution channels. To help address these challenges, a dedicated working group developed a uniform due diligence questionnaire (DDQ) that will serve as the standard for investment funds (UCITS and AIFs) in performing onboarding and ongoing oversight of distribution channels.