Insurance Europe urges the EU to simplify the Retail Investment Strategy (RIS) as part of its simplification and competitiveness agenda. The ongoing negotiations between the Council of the European Union , European Parliament and European Commission on the package are, the industry body stresses, an opportunity to simplify the proposal which would help consumers access investment, protection and quality advice.
The insurance industry fully backs the RIS objectives to empower retail investors to invest in their future and support the European capital markets. In its new set of recommendations published today, Insurance Europe makes three proposals on how the RIS can be simplified:
- Value for Money: To ensure effective market monitoring while preserving insurers’ freedom to design products and set prices, it is crucial that supervisors can use benchmarks without requiring insurance companies to perform peer grouping exercises. To avoid a negative impact, it is also essential to avoid new reporting requirements and the publication of benchmarks.
- Consumer journey: Retail investors should experience a smooth and leaner sales process, while maintaining an easy access to advice and various types of distribution channels. Insurance Europe therefore calls for avoiding adding new questions in the suitability and appropriateness tests which is already long, for the removal of the duplicative and unfit-for-insurance inducements test and for adapting the best interest test to insurance realities.
- Disclosures: Information overload must be reduced, and the focus should be on what truly matters to consumers. It is crucial to avoid duplicative and overly technical cost disclosures highlight the benefits of insurance products and ensure that disclosure formats are fit for purpose and adaptable to different insurance offerings.
Insurance Europe believes that these changes, together with avoiding excessive Level 2 technical measures, would make it easier to offer and buy insurance. This, the industry stresses, would help unlock much needed investment and increase its global competitiveness.