Last year, Enrico Letta published his report on the further deepening of the European Single Market under the title ‘Much more than a Market’. In it, he noted that the Capital Markets Union project launched in 2015 had been unsuccessful. In his opinion, it should be given new impetus under the new name ‘Savings and Investment Union’, as this designation makes the function of a capital markets union more tangible and better illustrates its importance to the general public. The DVFA asked its investment professionals what the new approach means for them in concrete terms.
‘Our investment professionals remain sceptical about the impact of the new name,’ says Thorsten Müller, Chairman of the DVFA Executive Board, commenting on the results. ‘The idea of a name that is easier to understand for broad sections of the population is a good one, but it is even more important that the Commission finally initiates decisive implementation steps and sets up concrete sub-projects for the deepening of the Capital Markets Union.’
Last year, Enrico Letta published his report on the further deepening of the European Single Market under the title ‘Much more than a Market’. In it, he noted that the Capital Markets Union project launched in 2015 had been unsuccessful. In his opinion, it should be given new impetus under the new name ‘Savings and Investment Union’, as this designation makes the function of a capital markets union more tangible and better illustrates its importance to the general public. The DVFA asked its investment professionals what the new approach means for them in concrete terms.
‘Our investment professionals remain sceptical about the impact of the new name,’ says Thorsten Müller, Chairman of the DVFA Executive Board, commenting on the results. ‘The idea of a name that is easier to understand for broad sections of the population is a good one, but it is even more important that the Commission finally initiates decisive implementation steps and sets up concrete sub-projects for the deepening of the Capital Markets Union.’
Capital Markets Union: Large majority sees ten lost years
When asked about the development of the European Capital Markets Union over the last ten years, three out of four respondents recognise little to no progress. And only 18% consider the development to be positive.
Growth and transformation require efficient equity markets
Almost unanimously (87%), investment professionals consider strong and liquid equity markets to be very important for future growth and the financing of the transformation in Europe. And only around one in eight (12%) consider their influence to be low or neutral.
Commission priority Capital Markets Union: majority expects no improvement
Almost two thirds of survey participants (63%) do not expect the new EU Commission under Ursula von der Leyen’s second presidency to prioritise the Capital Markets Union more strongly. In contrast, around one in four (26%) predict a significantly higher priority on the Commission’s agenda, while 11% even fear a significantly lower prioritisation.
Expansion of the Capital Markets Union – deregulation urgently desired! Finally, DVFA investment professionals were asked about the key issues for the expansion of a capital markets union. The clear winner with 29% was less and less detailed regulation. Simpler taxation of dividends came in second place with 20%. Two topics came in third place with 15% of respondents in favour of each: regulatory simplification for equity investments by insurance companies and a European Single Access Point that makes all financial and ESG data relevant to issuers available to users free of charge. This is closely followed by the expansion of ESMA into a ‘European SEC’ (13%). A standardised European pension product (PEPP) received the fewest votes with 7%.
Source: DVFA e. V.
‘The results show two things: firstly, how disillusioned DVFA’s investment professionals are about the development to date and also about the future of the EU Capital Markets Union project – and secondly, how crucial a fully integrated EU capital market without internal borders is right now,’ says Thorsten Müller, summarising the results. ‘The upcoming financing of the further transformation towards net zero and the increased defence investments will only succeed with efficient European capital markets. That is why the implementation of the Capital Markets Union is now more important than ever and has geopolitical relevance for Europe.’
translated by deepl.com
