Skip to main content
Log in

The Investor Model Underlying the EU’s Investor Protection Regime: Consumers or Investors?

  • Articles
  • Published:
European Business Organization Law Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article considers the impact of the financial crisis reform agenda on EU investor protection regulation. It argues that retail market regulation is becoming associated with a consumer protection agenda and that a more interventionist approach to the retail markets is following. The influences which are shaping this ‘consumerisation’ of EU investor protection regulation, and the benefits and risks of the new approach, which are particularly apparent in the product intervention sphere, are considered.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. E.g., P. Mülbert and A. Wilhelm, ‘Reforms of EU Banking and Securities Regulation after the Financial Crisis’, 26 Banking and Finance Law Review (2010) p. 187.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Respectively, COM(2011) 656/4 (addressing investment firm and trading market regulation) and COM(2011) 652/4 (addressing the details of trading market transparency). At the time of writing, the measures had just embarked on what is likely to be a long and contested institutional negotiation.

  3. The PRIPs reform process can be traced to 2007 and the Commission’s initial call for evidence: European Commission, Call for Evidence. Need for a Coherent Approach to Product Transparency and Distribution Requirements for ‘Substitute’ Retail Investment Products (2009).

  4. Under the UCITS IV Directive (Directive 2009/65/EC, OJ 2009 L 302/32) and its accompanying measures on the KIID: Commission Regulation 583/2010, OJ 2010 L 176/1 and CESR (now ESMA) guidance on the related synthetic risk and reward indicator (CESR/10-673) and ongoing charges (CESR/10-674).

  5. European Commission, Consultation on Legislative Steps for the PRIPS Initiative (December 2010). A suite of proposals is expected in mid-2012.

  6. The Commission’s February 2011 consultation on collective redress has been some time in the making and does not focus specifically on investments, but it represents an important development in EU redress policy.

  7. ESMA/2011/220, ESMA/2011/323 and ESMA 2011/445.

  8. European Commission, Recommendation on Access to Basic Payment Services (2011) (C(2011) 4977/4).

  9. COM(2011) 142, proposing a directive on mortgage advice and creditworthiness.

  10. The launch document for the UK’s new financial conduct regulator (the Financial Conduct Authority or FCA) which will be constructed from the consolidated Financial Services Authority (FSA) makes repeated references to the ‘strong consumer protection agenda’ in the EU post-crisis: FCA, Approach to Regulation (2011).

  11. P. Davis, ‘Protecting Investors Proves Tricky’, Financial Times Fund Management, 21 March 2011, p. 11.

    Google Scholar 

  12. For a policy-related review, see FSA, The Turner Review. A Regulatory Response to the Global Banking Crisis (2009), at pp. 39–42.

  13. See infra n. 113 and related text.

  14. See, e.g., BME Consulting, The EU Market for Consumer Long-Term Retail Savings Vehicles. Comparative Analysis of Products, Market Structure, Costs, Distribution Systems, and Consumer Savings Patterns (2007).

  15. As a major study of retail investor behaviour and regulation in Canada has argued: R. Deaves, C. Dine and W. Horton, How Are Investment Decisions Made, Research Report Prepared for the Task Force to Modernize Securities Legislation in Canada. Evolving Investor Protection (2006).

  16. As is made clear in BME Consulting, see supra n. 15.

  17. As has been frequently noted. See, e.g., J. Black, Involving Consumers on Securities Regulation. Report for the Taskforce to Modernize Securities Regulation in Canada (2006).

  18. For an early example, see M. Condon, Making Disclosure: Ideas and Interests in Ontario Securities Regulation (Toronto, University of Toronto Press 1998), distinguishing between prudent savers and risk-takers.

    Google Scholar 

  19. T. Williams, ‘Empowerment of Whom and for What? Financial Literacy Education and the New Regulation of Consumer Financial Services’, 29 Law & Policy (2007) p. 226, and I. Ramsay, ‘Consumer Law, Regulatory Capitalism and New Learning in Regulation’, 28 Sydney Law Review (2006) p. 9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. E.g., House of Commons, Joint Committee on the Draft Financial Services Bill, First Report, 13 December 2011, paras. 112–120.

  21. For a leading analysis of the need for protection with respect to consumer finance products, given their necessity and ubiquity, see E. Warren, ‘Product Safety Regulation as a Model for Financial Services Regulation’, 42 Journal of Consumer Affairs (2008) p. 452. In a similar vein, and arguing for more standardised product regulation of US mutual funds, see J. Fisch, ‘Rethinking the Regulation of Securities Intermediaries’, 158 University of Pennsylvania Law Review (2009–2010) p. 1961.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. R. Karmel, ‘Reconciling Federal and State Interests in Securities Regulation in the US and Europe’, 28 Brooklyn Journal of International Law (2003) p. 495, examining how the investor as consumer tends to dominate how the US states view investors, while a more robust, capital-driven approach is taken by the federal system.

    Google Scholar 

  23. E.g., D. Evans and J. Wright, ‘How the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of2009 Would Change the Law and Regulation of Financial Products’ (2009), available at: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=1491117>, and A. Levitin, ‘The Consumer Financial Protection Agency’, Georgetown Law and Economics Research Paper No. 14447082 (2009), available at: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=1447082>.

  24. Optem, Pre-contractual Information for Financial Services. Qualitative Study in the 27 Member States (2008), at pp. 8 and 88. Similarly, the French TNS-Sofres Report on regulated disclosures distinguished between ‘savvy investors’, able to control risk through diversification, and ‘small investors’ who were unwilling to take risks and were concerned to purchase safe products: TNS-Sofres, Investigation of Investment Information and Management Processes and Analysis of Disclosure Documents for Retail Investors (2006), Report for the AMF, at p. 8.

  25. In the UK, use of the term ‘consumer’ rather than ‘investor’ in the centrally important Financial Services and Markets Act has been associated with a normalisation of investment activity, the placing of responsibility on households, and lighter regulation: J. Gray and J. Hamilton, Implementing Financial Regulation. Theory and Practice (Chichester, Wiley 2006), at p. 192.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Directive 2006/48/EC, OJ 2006 L 177/1.

  27. European Agreement on a Voluntary Code of Conduct on Pre-Contractual Information for Home Loans (2001).

  28. Consumer Credit Directive 2008/48/EC, OJ 2008 L 133/66, which replaces the earlier Consumer Credit Directive 1998/7/EC, OJ 1998 L 101/17.

  29. E.g., S. Weatherill, EU Consumer Law and Policy, 2nd edn. (Cheltenham, Edward Elgar 2005), at p. 85.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  30. For an extended argument, see N. Moloney, How to Protect Investors. Lessons from the EU and the UK (Cambridge, CUP 2010).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  31. As repeated concerns with respect to mis-selling risks and the proliferation of investment products attest: Moloney, ibid., chs. 3 and 4.

  32. FSA Press Release, 27 October 2009. Over 5,000 retail investors invested in the order of £107 million in Lehman-backed structured products. FSA, Financial Risk Outlook 2009, at p. 67.

  33. E.g., FSA, Quality of Advice on Structured Investment Products (2009).

  34. H. Smith, A Changing Landscape. Regulatory Developments in the Distribution of Retail Investment Products (2010), at p. 1; CESR, The Lehman Brothers Default: An Assessment of the Market Impact (2009) (CESR/09-255), at p. 3.

  35. European Commission, MiFID II Impact Assessment (SEC(2011) 1226) (MiFID II Impact Assessment), Annex 8.

  36. Synovate, Consumer Market Study on Advice (2011).

  37. European Commission, Special Eurobarometer 373, Retail Financial Services Survey, Summary (March 2012).

  38. Consumer Decision Making in Retail Investment Services: A Behavioural Economics Perspective. Final Report. December 2010 (coordinated by Decision Technology Ltd for the Commission).

  39. P. Skypala, ‘What Will the Banks Think of Next’, Financial Times Fund Management, 14 November 2011, p. 6.

    Google Scholar 

  40. E.g., see supra n. 20.

  41. E.g., D. Kingsford Smith, ‘Regulating Investment Risk: Individuals and the Global Financial Crisis’, 32 University of New South Wales Law Journal (2009) p. 514.

    Google Scholar 

  42. E.g., Andrew Lo has queried why problems in the mass investment markets should be treated any differently to an aircraft safety scare in terms of, in particular, the communications techniques which are used, and called for a Capital Markets Safety Board: A. Lo, ‘Regulatory Reform in the Wake of the Financial Crisis 2007–2008’, 1 Journal of Financial Economic Policy (2009) p. 4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. The MiFID II Proposals Impact Assessment adopts a precautionary approach in places, particularly with respect to retail market intervention which, while queried, was accepted by the Commission’s Impact Assessment Board: MiFID II Impact Assessment Board Report (20 April 2011) (Ref. Ares (2011) 55344) and MiFID II Impact Assessment, supra n. 36, at p. 4 (generally), p. 7 (highlighting the Board’s approval) and 16 (with respect to the need for product intervention in the retail markets).

  44. MiFID II Impact Assessment, see supra n. 36, at p. 16.

  45. E.g., European Commission, European Financial Integration and Stability Report (2011).

  46. E. Ferran, ‘After the Crisis: The Regulation of Hedge Funds and Private Equity in the EU’, 12 European Business Organization Law Review (2012) p. 379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. S. Bowles, Speech at the opening of the ESMA offices (11 July 2011), available at: <http://www.esma.europa.eu/page/Speeches>.

  48. ECON Committee, Workshop on Consumer Protection (February 2009, PE 416.213), Briefing Notes.

  49. Europe at Work, Programme of the Danish Presidency of the EU Council (1 January–30 June 2012), at p. 9.

  50. E.g., C. Ford, ‘New Governance in the Teeth of Human Frailty: Lessons from Financial Regulation’, Wisconsin Law Review (2010) p. 441.

  51. MiFID II Directive Proposal, supra n. 3, Art. 24(5).

  52. Ibid., Art. 24(7).

  53. Ibid., Art. 25(3).

  54. Ibid., Art. 25(3).

  55. ESMA 2011/445.

  56. E.g., C. Camerer, S. Issacharoff, G. Loewenstein, T. O’Donoghue and M. Rabin, ‘Regulation for Conservatives: Behavioural Economics and the Case for Asymmetric Paternalism’, 151 University of Pennsylvania Law Review (2002–2003) p. 1211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. R. Karmel, ‘Mutual Funds, Pension Funds and Stock Market Volatility — What Regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission Is Appropriate’, 80 Notre Dame Law Review (2004–2005) p. 909, at p. 918.

    Google Scholar 

  58. E.g., R. Epstein, ‘The Neoclassical Economics of Consumer Contracts’, 92 Minnesota Law Review (2008) p. 808, and O. Bar Gill, ‘The Behavioural Economics of Consumer Contracts’, ibid., at p. 749.

    Google Scholar 

  59. European Commission, Public Consultation. Review of the MiFID (December 2012).

  60. MiFID II Directive Proposal, supra n. 3, Art. 9.

  61. MiFID II Regulation Proposal, supra n. 3, Art. 32.

  62. Ibid., Art. 31.

  63. Ibid., Art. 33.

  64. Although the Art. 9 power is not related to consumer protection risks, but to wider orderly market functioning/financial stability risks.

  65. E.g., N. Tait, ‘ESMA Watchdog Prepared to Clash with Brussels’, 2 March 2011, available at: <http://www.ft.com>.

  66. V. Ross, Speech: ‘Strengthening Investor Protection’, 5 December 2011, available at: <http://www.esma.europa.eu/content/Strengthening-Investor-Protection-Opening-Statement-Verena-Ross-ECON-hearing>.

  67. Structured UCITS are defined under the UCITS regime as UCITS which provide investors, at certain predetermined dates, with algorithmic-based payoffs that are linked to the performance, or to the realisation of price changes or other conditions, of financial assets, indices, or reference portfolios or UICTS with similar features, see KII Regulation, Commission Regulation (EU) No 583/2010, OJ 2010 L 176, Art. 36.

  68. Ibid., Art. 36. In particular, the KIID must include explanations of the payout formula and different performance scenarios.

  69. MiFID Review, supra n. 60, at pp. 54–56.

  70. MiFID II Directive Proposal, supra n. 3, Art. 25.

  71. IMF, Global Financial Stability Report (April 2011), at p. 68.

  72. E.g., FSB, Potential Financial Stability Issues Arising from Recent Trends in ETFs (2011); IMF, Global Financial Stability Report, supra n. 72, at pp. 68–72.

  73. Ibid.

  74. FSA, Retail Conduct Risk Outlook (2011), at pp. 69–71; AMF, 2011 Risk and Trend Mapping for Financial Markets and Savings (2011), at p. 6.

  75. ESMA/2011/220.

  76. MiFID II Impact Assessment, supra n. 36, at pp. 17–19.

  77. FSA, Discussion Paper 11/1, Product Intervention (2011), at p. 20.

  78. MiFID II Directive Proposal, supra n. 3, Art. 75.

  79. ESMA has issued level 2 advice to the Commission: ESMA/2011/323.

  80. MiFID II Directive Proposal, supra n. 3, Art. 25(5).

  81. European Commission, Report on Non-Equities Market Transparency Pursuant to Article 65(1) of Directive 2004/39/EC on Markets in Financial Instruments (2008).

  82. N. Moloney, ‘Regulating the Retail Markets: Law, Policy and the Financial Crisis’, in G. Letsas and C.O. Cinnéide, eds., Current Legal Problems 2010 (Oxford, OUP 2010) p. 375.

    Google Scholar 

  83. ECON Committee, Workshop on Consumer Protection, Briefing Notes, supra n. 49.

  84. The reports referenced supra nn. 57 and 59 were commissioned by DG Consumer Protection and Health.

  85. IMCO, IMCO Work Plan 2012.

  86. As is acknowledged within the regulator community. E.g., Speech by S. Nicoll (FSA): ‘The FSA’s Approach to Consumer Protection’, 24 June 2010, available at: <http://www.fsa.gov.uk/library/communication/speeches/2010/0624_sn.shtml>, noting the evolution of society’s expectations of what the regulator must deliver.

  87. Evidenced, e.g., by the significant pan-EU support for a tax on bank profits (81% of respondents), the regulation of bankers’ bonuses (80%) and a tax on financial transactions (61%): European Commission, Eurobarometer 74. Autumn 2010. Europeans, the European Union and the Crisis.

  88. Outlined in AMF, The AMF’s New Strategy Proposals (2010), and based on the 2009 Delétré Reports. Like the FSA’s approach, the related package of reforms addresses in particular the early detection of abuses.

  89. MiFID II Impact Assessment, see supra n. 36, Annex 13.

  90. EuroInvestors’ range of position papers and interventions is available at: <http://euroinvestors.org>.

  91. E.g., D. Langevoort, ‘Re-reading Cady Roberts: The Ideology and Practice of Insider Trading Regulation’, 99 Columbia Law Review (1999) p. 1319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  92. ESMA/2011/412.

  93. EBA, Financial Innovation and Consumer Protection. An Overview of the Objectives and Work of the EBA’s Standing Committee on Financial Innovation (SCFI) in 2011–2012 (2012).

  94. Case 205/84 Commission v. Germany (German Insurance) [1986] ECR 3755.

  95. A theoretically complete market is one in which individuals can hedge against all contingencies: P. Spencer, The Structure and Regulation of Financial Markets (Oxford, OUP 2000), at pp. 2–3.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  96. See generally S. Deakin, ‘The Rise of Finance: What Is It, What Is Driving It, What Might Stop It?’, 30 Comparative Labour Law & Policy Journal (2008–2009) p. 67.

    Google Scholar 

  97. E.g., P. Ireland, ‘Shareholder Primacy and the Distribution of Wealth’, 68 Modern Law Review (2005) p. 49; I. Ertürk, et al., ‘The Democratization of Finance? Promises, Outcomes and Conditions’, 14 Review of International Political Economy (2007) p. 553.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  98. E.g., C. Whitehead, ‘Reframing Financial Regulation’, 80 Boston University Law Review (2010) p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  99. E.g., C. Arup, ‘The Global Financial Crisis: Learning from Regulatory and Governance Studies’, 32 Law & Policy (2010) p. 363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  100. E.g., D. Awrey, ‘Complexity, Innovation and the Regulation of Modern Financial Markets’, Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper No. 49/2011 (2011), available at: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=1916649>.

  101. E.g., OECD, Bank Competition and Financial Stability (2011), at pp. 36–39.

  102. IOSCO, Mitigating Systemic Risk — A Role for Securities Regulators (2011).

  103. FSB, Progress in the Implementation of the G20 Recommendations for Strengthening Financial Stability (2011), at pp. 11–12.

  104. Commissioner Barnier, Speech: ‘Restoring Trust in the Financial Sector’, European Financial Services Conference, Brussels, 26 April 2010, available at: <http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/10/178&type=HTML>.

  105. E.g., J. Lerner and P. Tufano, ‘The Consequences of Financial Innovation: A Counterfactual Research Agenda’, NBER Working Paper 16780 (2011), available at: <http://www.nber.org/papers/w16780>, at p. 3.

  106. MiFID II Impact Assessment, supra n. 36, at p. 45.

  107. FSB, Consumer Finance Protection, with Particular Focus on Credit (2011).

  108. Independent Commission on Banking, Final Report. Recommendations (September 2011).

  109. P. Skypala, ‘Unhealthy Truth behind Robust AUM’, Financial Times Fund Management, 27 June 2011, p. 6.

  110. MiFID II Impact Assessment, see supra n. 36, at p. 190.

  111. As the MiFID II Impact Assessment acknowledges. The limited impact in practice of the MiFID II distribution reforms has been highlighted by EuroFinuse, Response to the MiFID Review Consultation (18 February 2011).

  112. MiFID II Impact Assessment, supra n. 36, at p. 44.

  113. FSA, Retail Product Development and Governance — Structured Products Review, Guidance Consultation, November 2011.

  114. J. Devlin, A Report for HM Treasury. Literature Review on Lessons Learned from Previous ‘Simple Products’ Initiatives (2010).

  115. MiFID II Impact Assessment, supra n. 36, at pp. 44–45.

  116. E.g., FSA, Consultation Paper 09/18, Distribution of Retail Investments: Delivering the RDR (2008), at p. 6.

  117. Summary available at: <http://wwwm.consob.it>.

  118. AMF Position No 2010-05.

  119. FSA, Discussion Paper 11/1, Product Intervention (2011), at p. 3. It was widely reported in the financial press as a major change. E.g., B. Masters, A. Ross and T. Powley, ‘Scandals Prompted Shift to New Rules’, Financial Times, 25 June 2011, p. 3.

  120. FCA, Approach to Regulation (2011).

  121. HM Treasury, A New Approach to Financial Regulation: The Blueprint for Reform (June 2011, Cm 8083), draft new sects. 138N and 1380, Financial Services Bill.

  122. Under which the AFM would monitor whether new products are cost-efficient, what well-grounded purpose they would serve, whether they would function as intended, and whether they were intelligible for the intended investor.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Moloney, N. The Investor Model Underlying the EU’s Investor Protection Regime: Consumers or Investors?. Eur Bus Org Law Rev 13, 169–193 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1017/S1566752912000134

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1566752912000134

Keywords

Navigation