On Tuesday 21 October in Strasbourg, representatives of the European Parliament and the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union agreed to delegate two points of the future legislative package on retail financial investments to the level of technical discussions.
They are: - the issue of ‘client categorisation’, which determines the level of regulatory protection, particularly in the event of an ‘opt-up’ or ‘opt-down’; and - the issue of ‘undue costs’, which aims to ensure that financial products and services offered to retail investors do not include unjustified or disproportionate costs in relation to the value they provide.
This last dimension is part of the broader ‘value for money’ principle introduced by the European Commission’s retail investment strategy, which aims to regulate the practices of manufacturers and distributors of investment products so that they demonstrate that all costs charged to customers are justified, transparent and proportionate.
Two months to ratify the legislative package, a priority for Copenhagen. To conclude this legislative dossier under the Danish Presidency, i.e. by the end of December, the EU’s co-legislators will still have to reach agreement on the more politically sensitive points, namely ‘value for money’, the rules on the ‘investor’s journey’, the system of retrocessions (‘inducements’) paid by manufacturers to distributors or intermediaries, as well as the ‘key information document’.
“The finishing line is within reach to make this text the first to bring savings and investment together, strengthen investor protection and simplify our rules for the benefit of our businesses,” European Parliament negotiator Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew Europe, French) told Agence Europe on Tuesday, referring to “a decisive turning point in the negotiations”.
A new trilogue negotiating session is scheduled for Tuesday 25 November. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)