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• How can product information provided to retail investors be improved to enhance transparency and comprehension?
• What steps can be taken to modernize disclosures for digital distribution?
• How can disclosures be standardized and simplified to facilitate better understanding of costs, risks, and potential returns?
• Are the proposed changes to the Key Information Document (KID) appropriate and effective in meeting the needs of retail investors?
• How can we establish measures that guarantee retail investors obtain value for money? Do the proposed requirements adequately address this objective?
• Are the proposed measures related to appropriateness and suitability suitable for protecting retail investors’ interests?
• How can the marketing of investment opportunities be made clearer, fairer, and less susceptible to misleading practices?
• How can we ensure that investment advisors possess the necessary knowledge and competence to provide sound advice to retail investors?
• What measures can be implemented to effectively minimize conflicts of interest in the distribution of retail investment products?
• Should inducements be banned for sales where no advice is provided, or are there alternative approaches that can address potential conflicts?
• In cases where inducements are permitted (sales with advice), how can we ensure that advisors act in the best interests of their clients?
• Is there a need for greater transparency regarding inducements, and does the European Commission’s proposal strike the right balance in this regard?
13.30 – 14.00 Registration & networking
14.05 – 14.45 Introductory remarks by speakers
14.45 – 15.45 Panel Discussion and Q&A
Chief Correspondent, financial services, MLex
Fiona Maxwell is a financial services senior correspondent at MLex in London. She began her career as a reporter for Risk.net, writing about EU post-crisis regulation, and later worked for POLITICO in Brussels, covering the intersect between financial policy and politics. Prior to joining MLex, Fiona worked at the Bank of England as a policy adviser in the prudential policy directorate.
Member of the European Parliament
Stephanie Yon-Courtin is a Member of the European Parliament, part of the Renew Europe Group and of the French political party Renaissance. Madam Yon-Courtin is coordinator of the committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and substitute member of the committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), of the committee on Fisheries (PECH) and the sub-committee on Taxation (FISC). Stephanie Yon-Courtin’s main commitments at European level are the establishment of fair competition rules that are favourable to both innovation and business development, as well as the protection of consumers in the digital world. She was rapporteur on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) for the ECON committee. She is also President of the delegation for UE-Canada relations at the European Parliament and substitute member of the delegation for the UE-USA relations. Stephanie Yon-Courtin is a former lawyer. She was admitted to the Paris Bar in 2004. Specialized in competition law, she has worked for international law firms (Freshfields Bruckhaus Derringer, Allen & Overy LLP). Before that, she worked as a jurist for the European Commission. Between 2007 and 2011, she joined the French Competition Authority as an international affairs adviser to President Bruno Lasserre. Stephanie Yon-Courtin is also Regional Councillor of Normandy and she was mayor of Saint-Contest in Calvados until 2019. She holds a Master’s degree in law from the Universities of Caen and Bristol and a Master’s degree in European law from the University of Brussels.
Director, Horizontal policies DG FISMA, European Commission
Marcel Haag studied law at the universities of Freiburg, Bonn, Strasbourg and at the EUI in Florence and qualified as a judge in Düsseldorf. After a short stint in business, he joined the European Commission and worked in different Commission services. Until the summer of 2020 Mr Haag served as a Director for policy coordination in the Secretariat-General of the Commission. He is currently Director for Horizontal policies at the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union.
Financial Services Counsellor, Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union
Fernando Alvarez-Cienfuegos is Financial and Economic Counsellor at the Spanish Permanent Representation. He worked from 2012 to 2021 at the Securities Markets and Financial Markets Regulation Unit of the Spanish Public Treasury, where he served as Spanish delegate to the Council’s Working Party on Financial Services and to the OECD Corporate Governance Committee. He is also an administrator at the European Commission’s Directorate General for financial stability, financial services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA). After graduating, he worked as a Lawyer at the Corporate Finance and Litigation practice at Uria Menendez. From 2020 to 2022 Alvarez-Cienfuegos was also a part-time Teaching Fellow in EU Law at the Autonomous University of Madrid. A Spanish national, he holds a joint master’s degree in Law and Political Science from the Autonomous University of Madrid and a Mid-Career Master's in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School.
Executive Director, Better Finance
Aleksandra Mączyńska is coming from Warsaw, Poland, where she was the Deputy Director of the International Relations and Communication Department of the Polish consumer and competition watchdog. She studied at the Faculty of Management at the Poznan University of Economics and at the Warsaw School of Economics. She has also a vast experience in management of international projects, e.g. EU funded capacity building projects. As a Fellow of the Robert Bosch Foundation Programme for the Young Executives from the Public Sector, she worked at the Division for World Bank International Monetary Fund, Debt Issues and International Finance Structure at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. She was an expert at various EU Council’s Working Parties such as the WP on Financial Services and WP on Competitiveness and Growth, as well as European Commission’s Working Groups and Advisory Committees. One of her task was also external representation and managing professional networks such as Consumer Policy Network (CPN), International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN), European Competition Network (ECN) and OECD Competition Committee.
Executive Board Member, Head of Life & Health, Allianz France
Sylvain is Executive Board Member at Allianz France, responsible for Life, Savings & Health. Along with this responsibility, Sylvain is the Chairman of Allianz Banque. Prior to joining Allianz, Sylvain has been the CEO of AXA Global Life – prior to which he was the Chief Actuary – Life and Group Head of Life Reinsurance. Before AXA, Sylvain worked with Generali France as Head of Marketing (Life and P&C) and also as Head of strategic projects. Sylvain holds a MBA from INSEAD, and has completed his Chartered Actuary from the French Institute of Actuaries. Sylvain also holds MSc in Finance and Economics from London School of Economics and also a MSc in Applied Mathematics from Ecole Centrale Paris.
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