Retail investment strategy
Retail investment strategy
Context
Europe has one of the highest individual savings rates in the world. However, the level of retail investor participation in capital markets remains low compared to other economies, with a majority of citizens keeping their savings in bank deposits, traditional saving products and fixed income based life insurance products, generating low or even negative real interest rates with the current level of inflation. Developing retail investment and making the EU an even safer place for individuals to save and invest long-term is one of the main objectives of the new CMU action plan published in September 2020, aiming to support the long-term funding of EU enterprises and also ensure that citizens benefit sufficiently from the investment opportunities offered by capital markets, notably for preparing their retirement.
In this action plan, the Commission announced its intention to propose a Retail Investment Strategy (RIS). Following consultations led in 2021 and 2022, a proposal was published for the RIS in May 2023. This package covers a range of areas related to retail investment:
- Disclosures and information: with the provision of more meaningful and standardised information about investment products and services adapted to digital channels, greater comparability of product costs to help improve value-for-money for investors and a reporting of portfolio performance sent to clients at least on an annual basis
- Product distribution and advice: with a ban on inducement for execution-only sales and more transparency on inducements in order to reduce potential conflicts of interest, measures to preserve high standards of professional qualification for financial advisors and further protection of retail investors from misleading marketing (e.g. in social media)
- Investor education and access: with objectives for member states to implement financial literacy measures and a reduction of administrative burdens for sophisticated investors
- Supervisory cooperation: with measures to facilitate the cooperation between national competent authorities and the ESAs for tackling mis-selling issues and to ensure a consistent application of rules
Eurofi documents
Extracted from the main Eurofi publications (Regulatory Updates, Views Magazines and Conference Summaries)
Eurofi policy notes
Retail Investment Strategy: objectives and on-going assessments - September 2022
Retail investment: opportunities, challenges and EU policy proposals - February 2022
Capital Markets Union: where are we? - February 2022
Retail investment strategy: objectives and key issues - September 2021
Panel discussion summaries
Retail Investment Strategy: key issues - Stockholm High Level Seminar - April 2023
Retail lnvestment Strategy: key priorities - Prague Financial Forum - September 2022
Retail investment strategy: what priorities? - Paris High Level Seminar - February 2022
Retail investment strategy: objectives and priorities - Ljubljana Financial Forum - September 2021
Developing retail investment - Lisbon Virtual Seminar - April 2021
Eurofi Views Magazine chapters
Retail Investment Strategy - April 2023
Verena Ross - European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) | Fausto Parente - European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) | Jos Heuvelman - Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) | Jérôme Reboul - Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) | Guillaume Prache - Better Finance | Andreas Wimmer - Allianz | Elisabeth Sterner - BlackRock | Sergiu Cristian Manea - Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR)
Retail Investment Strategy - September 2022
Natasha Cazenave - European Securities and Markets Authority | Tsvetelina Penkova - European Parliament | Jean-Paul Servais - Financial Services and Markets Authority, Belgium | Barbara Antonides - Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets | Fausto Parente - European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority | Matthew Holmes - Zurich Insurance Company Ltd | Simon Janin - Amundi | Guillaume Prache - Better Finance
Retail investment strategy - February 2022
Benoît de Juvigny - Autorité des Marchés Financiers | Ugo Bassi - European Commission | Gabriel Bernardino - Portuguese Securities Market Commission | Stéphanie Yon-Courtin - European Parliament | Jos Heuvelman - Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets | Guillaume Prache - Better Finance | Simon Janin - Amundi | Robyn Laidlaw - Vanguard Asset Management, Ltd | Gerben Everts - European Investors’ Association
Retail investment strategy - September 2021
Rodrigo Buenaventura - Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission | Martin Merlin - European Commission | Guillaume Prache - Better Finance | Jean-Paul Servais - Financial Services and Markets Authority, Belgium | Stéphanie Yon-Courtin - European Parliament | Christoph Bergweiler - J.P. Morgan Asset Management | Christian Hyldahl - BlackRock | Thomas Schaufler - Erste Group Bank AG
Retail investment - April 2021
Maria Luis Albuquerque / Guillaume Prache - Better Finance | Ante Žigman - Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency | Stéphanie Yon-Courtin - European Parliament | Christian Staub - Fidelity International | Fausto Parente - European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority | Simon Janin - Amundi