EBF: Europe’s banks welcome PRIPs Regulation

03 July 2012

The European Banking Federation (EBF) welcomes the proposal of the European Commission for a Regulation on key information documents for investment products (known as PRIPs).

The PRIPs proposal is designed to review significantly the existing legislative framework and to improve effective transparency in the retail market for retail investors. “This proposal will allow our clients to better compare overall the risks, costs and features of investment products, a welcome move”, declared Guido Ravoet, Chief Executive of the EBF.

The proposed harmonisation in disclosures will indeed benefit bank clients attempting to compare between different product offerings. It is however important to ensure an appropriate balance between a maximum level of consistency and comparability of disclosures on the one hand, and the need to allow for the tailoring of specific requirements for different types of products on the other. The EBF will work closely with the co-legislators as well as with the European Securities Market Authority (ESMA) on a functional content for the Key Information Document to support retail client information.

Finally, while the EBF welcomes the fact that deposits which are determined by an interest rate fall outside the scope of the final legislation, it will still closely monitor the co-decision process to see what instrument eventually falls under the scope of this regulation.


© EBF