Like Germany and Austria (see EUROPE 13118/10), France opposes the European Commission’s proposed ban on broker commissions, said Emmanuel Moulin, Director General of the French Treasury, during the public debate at the Ecofin Council on Tuesday 14 February.
As a measure included in the Retail Investor Strategy, the ban on commissions for insurance and financial brokers is intended to reduce conflicts of interest and thus avoid a negative effect on the quality of investment advice.
Insurance and financial professionals were the first to express their disapproval of this ban (see EUROPE 13099/12). They argue that it would effectively limit the use of brokers paid by these commissions and drive consumers to other less reliable sources of information.
“One of the levers for deepening the Capital Markets Union is the participation of retail investors in the capital market”, said Mr Moulin.
“This strategy should further improve the advice provided to retail investors to match their needs better while ensuring that the allocation of European savings contributes to the financing of collective objectives”, he continued.
It, therefore, considered that “any measure that would put access to investment advice at risk would be contrary to this objective”. On the other hand, he supported more transparency and invited the Commission to explore alternative approaches.
In response, European Commissioner for Financial Services Mairead McGuinness confirmed that an “intense debate” on retail investment strategy was underway, with “very different views”. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)