{"id":2346,"date":"2026-03-23T12:09:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smlf.gr\/?p=2346"},"modified":"2026-03-24T10:43:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T10:43:23","slug":"esma-sets-out-actions-to-simplify-the-retail-investor-journey-and-make-investing-more-accessible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smlf.gr\/el\/esma-sets-out-actions-to-simplify-the-retail-investor-journey-and-make-investing-more-accessible\/","title":{"rendered":"ESMA sets out actions to simplify the retail investor journey and make investing more accessible"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"2346\" class=\"elementor elementor-2346\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-15e9086 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"15e9086\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4b699c9 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"4b699c9\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-627a081 elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"627a081\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f262e77 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"f262e77\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">ESMA sets out actions to simplify the retail investor journey and make investing more accessible\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a5596a2 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"a5596a2\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e1f5e9c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e1f5e9c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU\u2019s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has published its\u00a0takeaways\u00a0from the 2025 Call for Evidence (CfE) on the retail investor journey.<\/p><p>Taking into account the input from stakeholders, ESMA outlines a number of actions and operational improvements it will take forward to make it easier for retail investors to access suitable investment opportunities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><p>ESMA will focus on three areas:<\/p><ul><li>streamlining disclosure requirements\u00a0and tackling information overload for investors;<\/li><li>reducing complexity in suitability and appropriateness assessments;<\/li><li>simplifying MiFID II requirements on sustainability preferences.<\/li><\/ul><p>As part of this follow up work, consumer testing will be used to inform and validate\u00a0improvements to disclosures and digital investor journeys, including for mobile-first users.<\/p><p>Verena Ross, ESMA Chair, said:\u00a0<\/p><p><em>\u201cEnhancing the investor journey is one of ESMA\u2019s flagship projects to facilitate simplification and reduce burden for participants in financial markets. ESMA will take forward concrete work to make it easier for retail investors to participate in the EU capital markets.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><p><em>This work must remain a priority and requires ESMA to work in a joint effort with market participants, the European Commission, co\u2011legislators and national governments to improve retail investor access.\u201d<\/em><\/p><p>Responses indicate that retail investors encounter multiple regulatory and non\u2011regulatory barriers when starting to invest. There is therefore not one magic solution to make the EU\u2019s capital markets more accessible.<\/p><p><strong>Stakeholders highlighted the following aspects to be addressed:<\/strong><\/p><p><strong>Disclosures:\u00a0too long, too complex, not digital-first.<\/strong>\u00a0Stakeholders support the need for appropriate disclosures but find them not sufficiently effective due to volume, complexity, and fragmentation of information. They call for clearer and layered information, delivered in mobile-friendly formats.<\/p><p><strong>Suitability and appropriateness assessments:<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>valuable but heavy.<\/strong>\u00a0Stakeholders value the investor protection benefits of suitability and appropriateness requirements, but ask for simplification and proportionality, particularly for simple products and those distributed through digital channels. Many also consider the integration of sustainability preferences as being overly complex.\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>Beyond regulation: trust, costs, and taxes matter.\u00a0<\/strong>Respondents also highlighted several non-regulatory obstacles to investing: lack of trust, high fees and limited comparability of products, low financial literacy and cultural factors, and complex taxation, especially for cross-border investments.<\/p><p><strong>Next steps\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><p>The report will guide ESMA\u2019s future technical advice on MiFID II delegated acts and potential updates to its guidelines, ensuring alignment with the final outcome of the Retail Investment Strategy (RIS).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-c6bcfdc elementor-section-content-middle elementor-reverse-mobile elementor-section-boxed 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investor journey and make investing more accessible The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU\u2019s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has published its\u00a0takeaways\u00a0from the 2025 Call for Evidence (CfE) on the retail investor journey. Taking into account the input from stakeholders, ESMA outlines a number of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-el"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smlf.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smlf.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smlf.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smlf.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smlf.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2346"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/smlf.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2371,"href":"https:\/\/smlf.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346\/revisions\/2371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smlf.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smlf.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smlf.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smlf.gr\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}