Reuter's Jones: Germany joins battle against EU ban on financial product commission

17 January 2023

Banning commission-based sales of financial products from banks and insurers would be a "serious setback" to the European Union's capital market and limit choice for consumers, Germany's finance minister Christian Lindner has said.

EU financial services chief Mairead McGuinness set out last month a detailed case in favour of banning "inducements", or commission paid by a bank or insurer to financial advisers who have sold their products.

 

In a letter to a member of the European Parliament, McGuinness said a ban in the Netherlands, and outside the EU in Britain, led to cheaper products for customers, adding no decision had been taken on proposing an EU-wide ban.

McGuinness could propose a ban in her upcoming "retail investment strategy" to deepen the bloc's capital market by attracting more retail investors. EU states and the European Parliament would have the final say on any ban.

 

Lindner said in a letter to McGuinness, dated Dec. 28 and seen by Reuters, that he welcomed her goal to deepen the EU capital market, but he was "very much concerned" about a possible ban on inducements...

more at  Reuters


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