On Tuesday 18 March, negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union held an initial exchange of views on the ‘Retail Investment Strategy’. However, the continuation of the inter-institutional negotiations (“trilogue”) is pending new simplification proposals from the European Commission on this legislative package aimed at strengthening the protection of small investors.
Non-papers from the Commission are expected by the end of April, after which negotiations may continue.
“By subjecting the retail investment strategy to a second review under the prism of simplification and the Savings and Investment Union, the co-legislators have launched a six-week countdown for the Commission - it now has to live up to its agenda, with proposals to submit to us”, said the chief negotiator for the European Parliament, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew Europe, French).
In the European Parliament, the political groups were deeply divided when a common position was adopted, particularly on the issue of financial retrocessions (see EUROPE 13397/3). The left wing of the House argued in favour of stricter regulation to prevent conflicts of interest in the financial industry.
The EU Member States were in favour of abolishing the ban on such commissions altogether, thereby going against the European Commission’s recommendation for a partial ban (see EUROPE 13430/14).
The European Commission on the lookout. Last December, the European Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investment Union, Maria Albuquerque, felt that “the European Parliament and the Council [had] considerably weakened the Commission’s proposal in their approaches” (see EUROPE 13543/22).
The Commission wants to ensure that the compromises emerging between the co-legislators do not move away from the investor protection objectives set out in the original legislative proposal (see EUROPE 13187/21).
“All I can say is the [European Commission] stands by the objectives. It is important we are vigilant, that those objectives are met and to make sure EU investors are given opportunity with the appropriate protection. The Commission will therefore remain vigilant”, said a senior EU official on Tuesday. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)