Sirpa Pietikäinen, a Finnish member of the EPP, said that extending the scope of Prips to stocks could mislead consumers into believing that equities were capital guaranteed products with very little risk.

By Chris Flood

22 September 2013

A significant European parliament vote on rules to improve protection for retail investors has been delayed until November amid divisions over the proposals. The vote had been expected to take place on September 17.

Members of the European parliament remain deeply divided over new rules governing packaged retail investment products and plans for the new key information document (KID) that will accompany all Prips.

Pervenche Berès, the French MEP leading the process as rapporteur, wants to extend the scope of the legislation to stocks, bonds and bank deposits.

This widens the scope of the European Commission’s original proposals, which already covered a wide range of investment vehicles including structured products and investment and savings products issued by insurance companies and pension funds.

Ms Berès said it was essential to broaden the scope of Prips legislation to strengthen confidence among small investors in the financial products that they were being sold.

She is also pressing for details about the tax treatment of Prips to be included in the KID, as well as information about environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.

Syed Kamall, a UK Conservative MEP, said he was concerned that the rapporteur’s proposals would prove ”unworkable” and that national governments would find it difficult to implement the legislation if it were passed by the European parliament.

Ms Berès proposals also face opposition from the European People’s party.

Sirpa Pietikäinen, a Finnish member of the EPP, said that extending the scope of Prips to stocks could mislead consumers into believing that equities were capital guaranteed products with very little risk.

Emphasising that it was important to establish a level playing field for the provision of investment information to consumers across Europe, Ms Pietikäinen said the inclusion of tax information in the KID was ”mixing oil with water” as tax rates could vary across member states.

Sirpa Pietikäinen
Europarlamentaarikko
Tutustu Sirpaan