FECIF Editorial | June 2026

The European policy agenda in financial services has rarely been this consequential. The Savings and Investments Union is taking shape, retail investor protections are being redesigned, and the question of whether ordinary citizens will participate meaningfully in capital markets is being answered in real time. It is in this context that FECIF and EFPA sent a joint letter to Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque in May, prompted by her speech in Helsinki on 10 April. The letter made a careful argument: financial education gives citizens the foundation to understand that financial decisions matter, but professional advice translates that understanding into personalised, suitable decisions. One cannot replace the other. The letter also flagged a concern regulators cannot afford to ignore: the proliferation of unregulated financial content creators reaching millions with advice they are not qualified to give. High-quality regulated advice is one of the most effective safeguards against this risk.

On 30 September 2025, the European Commission launched its EU Financial Literacy Strategy — a milestone FECIF strongly welcomes. Delivery has already begun: expert group meetings kicked off in Q1 2026, practitioner workshops are underway, and a pilot project was approved in the EU’s 2026 budget. A network of “financial literacy ambassadors” is being assembled, and by 2027 a new Eurobarometer will track progress. And yet the strategy faces a structural limit: under Article 165 of the TFEU, education policy is a Member State competence. The Commission cannot oblige ministries of education to update curricula or make financial education mandatory. The 2024 Council Conclusions advocated for exactly that — but a political recommendation is not a binding obligation. Civil society organisations — NGOs, professional associations, consumer bodies, industry federations — must build the structured, evidence-based case and carry it into national capitals and regional assemblies. And it is civic society — parents, teachers, local communities — who will create the political pressure that actually moves curricula. Both need to be part of this conversation, and the Commission should actively build a platform that brings them together in structured dialogue with national authorities. Let 2026 not be remembered as the year Europe talked about making financial literacy mandatory — but as the year we started making it happen, with a credible path to results by 2030.

The evidence from recent EU policy files reveals a persistent blind spot: the adviser profession is consistently regulated but rarely recognised. The Retail Investment Strategy — political agreement reached in December 2025 — strengthens obligations on advisers and preserves professional qualification standards. Welcome provisions. But the RIS nowhere frames the adviser as a strategic asset for retail participation, and is silent on advice access gaps. The EP’s INI report on financial literacy and finfluencers, voted in April 2026, follows the same pattern. Recital G notes that only 38% of EU citizens trust the investment advice they receive — framed as a problem, not as a call to invest in adviser quality and accessibility. The sole operative reference to regulated intermediaries appears as a compliance comparator for finfluencers: they already meet high protection standards, unlike unregulated content creators. The right conclusion is not only to tighten rules on finfluencers — it is also to recognise the regulated profession that already does what finfluencers cannot. ESMA’s March 2026 report on the retail investor journey comes closest, identifying the need for qualified advisers as part of the trust deficit discouraging retail participation. But even there, the follow-up is framed as regulatory simplification, not a policy commitment to the adviser’s public role.

This letter to Commissioner Albuquerque is part of a broader pattern of engagement. Over the past year, FECIF submitted formal responses to key European consultations, including:

• European Commission: Public consultation on Savings and Investment Union (SIU) – link

• ESMA: Call for evidence on retail investor journey as part of simplification and burden reduction efforts – link

• European Commission: Public consultation on supplementary pensions – link  

On 21 April, FECIF launched its White Book 2025 in Brussels at an event titled Financial Advice for Europe’s Future: Empowering Citizens to Save, Invest and Retire. As Chairperson Vania Franceschelli put it at the launch, the document exists to reaffirm the importance of the financial adviser’s role — for individual citizens and for Europe’s broader economic wellbeing. Its recommendations are concrete: official recognition of professional advice, smarter rules for digital finance, stronger financial education, greater gender inclusion, and a renewed focus on complementary retirement schemes.

In 2026, FECIF is strengthening its Brussels presence through in-person meetings with EU institutions and industry bodies. This June alone: MEPs involved in the PEPP Regulation and Supplementary Pensions Package, DG FISMA units responsible for SIU coordination, and counterparts including EFAMA, Insurance Europe and PensionsEurope. The message is consistent: access to qualified advice is essential for retirement planning, and any European initiative on supplementary pensions must respect national diversity and avoid one-size-fits-all approaches that have historically limited uptake.

Europe holds an estimated €50 to €70 trillion in household financial wealth, much of it sitting in low-yield instruments. The challenge is not a lack of capital — it is trust, guidance and the right conditions for long-term investment. FECIF — the only European organisation exclusively representing financial advisers and intermediaries at EU level, speaking for some 450,000 professionals — has been consistent: strong consumer protection, harmonised professional standards, and recognition of the adviser as a strategic asset. Not a compliance cost. A trusted professional whose work connects policy ambitions to citizens’ real financial lives.

The profession is ready. The policy moment is here. FECIF is engaged.