ESMA publishes key findings on retail investor journey under MiFID II

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a report outlining its key takeaways from the 2025 call for evidence on the retail investor journey, particularly regulatory requirements under the revised EU Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) that impact retail investors when engaging with capital markets. The responses indicate that there are multiple factors, of regulatory and non-regulatory nature, which may create barriers for people to start investing.

Stakeholders highlight the need to address the following areas:

• Disclosures: Stakeholders support the need for appropriate disclosures but find them insufficiently effective due to volume, complexity, and fragmentation of information. They call for clearer and layered information, delivered in mobile-friendly formats.
• Suitability and appropriateness assessments: Stakeholders value the investor protection benefits of suitability and appropriateness requirements, but ask for simplification and proportionality, particularly for simple products and those distributed through digital channels. Many also consider the integration of sustainability preferences as being overly complex.
• Beyond regulation: Respondents also point to several non-regulatory obstacles to investing including lack of trust, high fees and limited comparability of products, low financial literacy and cultural factors, and complex taxation, especially for cross-border investments.

ESMA notes that improving the investor journey will need to remain a continuous priority. It will use the feedback to inform future technical advice on the MiFID II delegated acts, depending on the content of the Retail Investment Strategy (RIS) and the mandates from the European Commission. ESMA will also consider whether its MiFID II guidelines require updating. In addition, the insights gathered will feed into longer‑term strategic discussions and potential proposals on the overall framework.

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