The European Parliament today formalised its position on the Retail Investment Strategy, which significantly improves on the original European Commission proposal.

The initial proposal focused mostly on commissions and costs and lost sight of what matters: providing EU citizens with good investment outcomes. Under MEP Stephanie Yon-Courtin’s leadership, the European Parliament position ensures that individual investors maintain access to personal, professional and affordable financial advice. At the same time, it guarantees that the right steps are taken so that products and services offer value to investors. We strongly support the move away from European benchmarks and believe that firm peer reviews are a better way to guarantee that investors receive value for money. 

In this area, some elements can still be improved upon. The Parliament currently proposes both internal peer reviews and supervisor benchmarks and we remain sceptical about how these separate and competing frameworks can co-exist.

Kimon Argyropoulos, EFAMA Regulatory Policy Advisor, commented: “The Parliament’s vote is certainly a positive step in achieving a more coherent regulatory framework for retail investors. Moving forward, it will be essential for EU policymakers to ensure that all different elements of the Retail Investment Strategy work well together. Only then can we expect to create an environment that will encourage EU savers to invest.”

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Note to editors :

Read more about our work on retail investment here.

Read our policy recommendations for the next legislative mandate here.

For further information, please contact:

Hayley McEwen

Head of Communication & Membership Development

Tel: +32 2 513 39 69

Email: info@efama.org