FROM THE EUROPEAN BANKING FEDERATION:

EBF response to ESMAs Call for Evidence on certain aspects relating to retail investor protection

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BRUSSELS, 20 December 2021 – The EBF welcomes the opportunity to respond to ESMAs Call for Evidence on the European Commission’s mandate on certain aspects relating to retail investor protection.

In the context of the CMU action plan, it is essential to ease retail investors’ access to financial markets while ensuring a high level of investor protection.

• Review of information requirements and technology neutral approach

The EBF welcomes a review of the information requirements since the current regime is too complex and not calibrated to clients’ needs. We support easing requirements for professional and eligible counterparties as well as knowledgeable retail investors through changing opt-up criteria. We agree with ESMA it is very important to ensure that the disclosure requirements are technology neutral so that it is easy for clients to understand and access the information also in an online environment.

• Horizontal alignment of requirements

Furthermore, there should be horizontal alignment between legislation to ensure transparency and comparability, especially uniform information for similar investment products and services.

• ESG related disclosure

Discrepancies in the sustainability regime in MiFID II and SFDR should be addressednotably regarding reporting frequency of individual portfolio management. There is also great concerns relating to the overlapping implementation period of the SFDR level 2 requirements (1 jan 2023) and MiFID II rules on suitability assessment (3 aug and 22 nov 2022). The EBF strongly support postponing the MiFID II level 2 requirements until 1 jan 2023.

• Open finance

The benefits of an open finance approach in the field of retail investment will strongly depend on how an open finance policy is implemented in the EU and whether the initiative is limited to data that is now held by banks instead of all the data that is useful in the financial ecosystem, including data from other sectors.

• Financial literacy

We would like to to underline that disclosures do not automatically lead to increased investor protection. Financial literacy remains a key feature to improve retail investors’ access to capital markets. x

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For more information:

Pauline Guerin, Senior Policy Adviser, Financing Growth p.guerin@ebf.eu

Liga Semane, Policy Adviser, Innovation & Data l.semane@ebf.eu

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About the EBF:

The European Banking Federation is the voice of the European banking sector, bringing together national banking associations from across Europe. The EBF is committed to a thriving European economy that is underpinned by a stable, secure and inclusive financial ecosystem, and to a flourishing society where financing is available to fund the dreams of citizens, businesses and innovators everywhere