“PRIPS vote puts investors first” - BOWLES
Following last night's vote on an EU proposal for the development of key information documents for investment products, Sharon Bowles MEP, Chair of the Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, said:
"The ECON Committee has voted a text that will significantly enhance the way in which pre-contractual information is communicated to potential investors across all Member States and across a wide range of investment products."
The provision of this document will enable investors to compare a variety of investment opportunities with the maximum amount of information possible. Parliament's text aims to help retail investors to understand where their money is going and what the potential risks and rewards are.
The ECON Committee voted in favour of specific Bowles amendments, including the introduction of a complexity label at the top of the KID for products which the manufacturer deems complex and possibly not suitable for retail investors. In addition, under Ms Bowles' guidance, the Parliament suggests that ESMA, the European Securities and Markets Authority, should develop the idea of a fund calculator, as found in the US, to help investors estimate the value of funds and the impact of any fees and expenses on the investment.
ENDS
Note to Editors:
- A last minute compromise tabled by the Rapporteur, Pervenche Beres, and adopted by the Committee, served to further narrow the scope of Parliament's text to also exclude shares, bonds, and deposits from this regulation.
- The text, as voted yesterday in ECON, will go before Parliament as a whole before negotiations begin with Council.