It has hardly escaped the attention of European financial advisors that, according to the amended MiFID II framework, as of 2 August 2022, they are required to consider the clients’ sustainability preferences in their suitability assessments. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s Securities Markets Regulator, has been working to provide the entities affected by the new regulation with some guidelines on MiFID II’s suitability requirements. After conducting a public consultation on these guidelines to gather the views of relevant stakeholders, on 23 September, ESMA published their Final Report.
“The assessment of suitability is one of the most important requirements for investor protection in the MiFID framework,” states the report, stressing the importance of this aspect of the regulatory framework. “It applies to the provision of any type of investment advice, whether independent or not, and to portfolio management.”
