In its roadmap for financial market regulation towards a Savings and Investment Union, the EU Commission makes it clear where it would like to go. Financial Services Commissioner Maria Albuquerque plans to present the programme soon.

A draft of the paper has been made available to Börsen-Zeitung. Among the measures that the EU Commission wants to propose is support for national governments if they want to introduce savings and investment accounts based on „best practices“ in other countries. The EU Commission would like to accompany this with recommendations on the (preferential) tax treatment of such accounts.

In order to bring capital investment closer to a larger number of EU citizens, the Commission, together with the European Investment Bank, the European Stability Mechanism, and the national development banks, also wants to examine how small investors can invest more easily in financial instruments issued by these institutions.

Meanwhile, the EU Commission has left it unclear how exactly it intends to proceed with the Retail Investment Strategy it proposed a few years ago, subsequently extensively amended by the Council and Parliament.

The law aimed to ensure fair treatment of retail investors, and to guarantee that they receive an appropriate value for their invested capital („value for money“). Now the draft has the Delphic statement that "the EU Commission will facilitate an agreement between Parliament and Council on the strategy for retail investors. However, the EU Commission will not hesitate to withdraw the proposal if the negotiations do not achieve the objectives of the strategy.“

This statement is already fuelling speculation that Albuquerque is ultimately prepared to drop the legislative proposal of her predecessor Mairead McGuinness, especially as it has already been corrected by the co-legislators in key elements (such as deletion of the ban on commissions).

The Europe-wide pension product PEPP, which was launched unsuccessfully, is to be revised. The EU Commission wants to make regulatory adjustments via delegated acts as part of Solvency II, so that institutional investors can become more involved in the equity markets. The venture capital rules are to be adapted and the EU label for venture capital investments upgraded. The EU Commission is also reiterating its commitment to relax the due diligence requirements and capital requirements for securitisations. An amending regulation is expected in May.

Unsurprisingly, the paper also calls on the co-legislators to make progress on the controversial legislative dossiers in the area of Banking Union, namely the resolution of medium-sized banks (Crisis Management and Deposit Insurance framework – CMDI) and a European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS). Finally, Albuquerque has repeatedly emphasised that the Savings and Investment Union does not simply give the Capital Markets Union a new name, but combines it with the Banking Union to form a more comprehensive concept.