Last week, the Council and European Parliament reached an agreement on the revised Market in Financial Instruments Directive and Regulation. The revised Directive sets out rules for the sale of financial instruments with the aim to strengthen investor protection and transparency and to take account of technological developments since the inception of the original legislation.

The new agreement will apply to the sale of structured deposits, a complex investment product which has been offered to consumers in several member states without the application of adequate regulatory standards.

However, the Commission’s original plan and demand from BEUC and its member organisations to improve consumer protection through the introduction of an EU-wide ban on inducements was dropped during the negotiation process and replaced with an option for individual member states to introduce such a ban.