In July the European Commission released their long-awaited Retail Investment Strategy, including multiple proposals aimed at boosting retail participation in capital markets. EFAMA has provided comments on this in their ‘Have your say’ forum, where we briefly highlight some of our main concerns.
Retail Investment
EFAMA is a long-standing advocate of a retail investment strategy that gives EU citizens the necessary tools and the confidence to put their savings to work by investing in capital markets - one of the objectives of the CMU project.
We support harmonised rules governing retail investor participation, as well as a greater emphasis on the benefits of investing, as they would go a long way towards offsetting the phenomenon of European households losing their hard-earned wealth to inflation. We also consider investment advice and its availability essential to increasing retail participation in European capital markets, along with improved financial disclosures and increased financial literacy.
Related policy positions
Policy Position
Distribution ＆ Client Disclosures
Retail Investment
02 September 2023
EC "HAVE YOUR SAY" consultation on the EU Strategy for Retail Investors
Policy Position
Distribution ＆ Client Disclosures
Retail Investment
16 December 2022
Joint Industry letter on the importance of advice and preserving the commission-based model
EFAMA, together with EBF, Insurance Europe, EACB, EAPB, ESBG and EUSIPA, issued a public letter addressed to Vice-President Dombrovskis, Commissioners McGuinness and Director-General Berrigan, remarking the importance of advice for European retail investors and the need to maintain the coexistence of fee-based and commission-based advice.
Policy Position
Distribution ＆ Client Disclosures
Retail Investment
10 October 2022
ESMA’s Consultation paper on the review of the guidelines on MiFID II product governance requirements
EFAMA wholeheartedly supports ESMA’s objective of ensuring a consistent and harmonised application of the MiFID II product governance requirements. In our response to their consultation on the topic, we raised the following points:
Related news
Publication
Retail Investment
10 February 2025
Retail Investment Strategy: what to keep, what to remove and how to simplify moving forward
In its current form, the Retail Investment Strategy (RIS) will not achieve its goal of making investing more accessible to European citizens and could deter, rather than encourage, retail participation. In order to stand a chance of delivering on its objectives, the RIS needs urgent simplification. EFAMA have produced a short leaflet with our recommendations on how to simplify and reduce complexity in the current proposal.
Our key suggestions include:
Press Release
Retail Investment
10 February 2025
Retail Investment Strategy requires significant simplification if it wants to encourage, rather than deter, EU retail investors
EFAMA leaflet sets out clear recommendations for improvement
Statement
Retail Investment
28 November 2024
Retail Investment Strategy - Joint Statement: Finance sector calls for co-legislators to reassess the RIS in light of the European Commission's competitiveness goals
The undersigned associations welcome the new European Commission’s objectives to boost the EU’s competitiveness, focus on the enforcement of existing legislation and simplify regulatory frameworks. We appreciate that this was also echoed by the Commissioner-Designate Maria Luis Albuquerque during her confirmation hearing in the European Parliament.
Related publications
Publication
Retail Investment
10 February 2025
Retail Investment Strategy: what to keep, what to remove and how to simplify moving forward
In its current form, the Retail Investment Strategy (RIS) will not achieve its goal of making investing more accessible to European citizens and could deter, rather than encourage, retail participation. In order to stand a chance of delivering on its objectives, the RIS needs urgent simplification. EFAMA have produced a short leaflet with our recommendations on how to simplify and reduce complexity in the current proposal.
Our key suggestions include:
Publication
Capital Markets Union
Retail Investment
24 May 2024
Charting the Course: Unlocking Retail Participation in EU Capital Markets
At the Roundtable on the distribution of retail investment products on 18 July 2023, the European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, Mairead McGuinness, invited the European Banking Federation (EBF), the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) and Insurance Europe to advance an industry-driven process to explore common solutions aimed at increasing retail participation in EU capital markets.
Publication
Capital Markets
Capital Markets Union
Retail Investment
22 January 2024
Household Participation in Capital Markets
This report analyses the progress made in recent years by European households in allocating more of their financial wealth to capital market instruments (pension plans, life insurance, investment funds, debt securities and listed shares) and less in cash and bank deposits. It also includes policy recommendations on improving retail participation in capital markets, including for the Retail Investment Strategy currently under discussion.
Some key findings include:
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