“Retail investors must lie at the heart of the CMU” – WMA’s initial response to the CMU Green Paper – 18th February 2015

The Wealth Management Association (WMA) welcomes the European Commission’s Green Paper on establishing a Capital Markets Union (CMU), especially its focus on translating savings into investment.

WMA will be working to ensure that the retail investor is seen as key for contributing to future growth and development within the EU and is encouraged in this by the European Commission’s analysis of the need to boost retail investment.  In its initial response to the Green Paper WMA highlights five key principles that should inform the debate:

1. Retail investors must lie at the heart of the CMU
2. Transforming retail savings into productive investments for both individuals and the economy is a vital part of the CMU
3. CMU must recognise legitimate differences between financial sectors, markets and member state practices
4. CMU should ensure that legislation is based on need, is well focussed and is not one size fits all
5. Retail supervision in the CMU should happen as close as possible to the markets and private investors

Liz Field, CEO of the Wealth Management Association, commented:

“The creation of the Capital Markets Union is a real opportunity to boost economic growth in Europe. The WMA applauds ambitions to lift jobs and growth in the EU by helping businesses to ‘tap into diverse sources of capital from anywhere within the EU and offer investors and savers additional opportunities to put their money to work’.

WMA’s five key principles highlight important areas for consideration from the retail market perspective as the CMU debate evolves and we will continue to feed into the process and represent the interests of the retail investor to ensure they lie at the heart of future plans”.

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