As part of the forthcoming inter-institutional negotiations between the Council of the EU and the European Parliament (‘trilogue’), EU Member States are being asked to submit their comments on the proposed new rules on retail investor protection by Friday 16 August.
Although the EU Council adopted its negotiating mandate last June (see EUROPE 13430/14), the Hungarian Presidency is once again calling on the Member States to reach a future agreement with the European Parliament.
A working document, of which Agence Europe has obtained a copy, sets out the positions of the European Commission - the basis of the legislative proposal - the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. The differences over the question of financial retro-commissions or inducements - commissions received by advisers - are set out in particular.
The issue of inducements had divided the European Parliament, whose left wing was hoping to count on a “more reasonable” approach from the Council of the EU to prevent conflicts of interest in the financial industry. The European Parliament adopted its position on this ‘Retail Investment Strategy’ last April, after fierce debate (see EUROPE 13397/3).
The package, launched by the European Commission in May 2023 (see EUROPE 13187/21), consists of an ‘omnibus’ directive, which plans to amend five existing pieces of legislation, and an amending regulation revising the regulation on packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (‘PRIIPs’).
See the working paper on the Omnibus Directive and the PRIIPs Regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/cy1 (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)