FECIF Editorial | May 2026

There is a particular kind of policy frustration that comes not from ignorance but from inaction — when everyone in the room agrees on the problem, the evidence is overwhelming, and still nothing moves. On the evening of 21 April, FECIF gathered in Brussels senior representatives from across the European financial services landscape, in an event chaired by chairperson Vania Franceschelli and facilitated by Secretary-General Simon Colboc. All panelists agreed on the diagnosis with striking consistency. Whether Europe can agree on the cure is a rather more open question.

The diagnosis, to be plain, is this. European households save. They save well and they save consistently. What they conspicuously fail to do is invest. A disproportionate share of accumulated wealth sits in deposits and low-yield instruments, inert and unproductive, generating neither adequate returns for savers nor the capital flows that a continent in the midst of digital and environmental transitions urgently needs.

What Advice Actually Does

William Vidonja of Insurance Europe set the terms of the debate early. Saving, he noted, is only half the equation. The real question is how to ensure that part of those savings finds its way into productive investment — serving individual financial goals and broader economic growth simultaneously. The evidence is unambiguous: individuals who receive professional guidance build more wealth, prepare more effectively for retirement, and approach financial decisions with measurably greater confidence. As the discussion made plain, "financial advice is not just a service. It's a key driver of economic participation."

Jacopo Borgognone of the European Banking Federation added the macro dimension. The core challenge, he argued, lies in asset allocation: too large a share of European savings remains concentrated in low-risk instruments when it could be directed toward long-term investment. Europe does not lack the resources to finance its own transitions. It lacks the mechanisms — and the trust — to mobilise them.

Andrea Liesenfeld of the European Commission brought regulatory sobriety to the conversation. There is no single instrument that solves this challenge. Financial literacy, value for money, and access to advice must work in combination to support meaningful retail participation. Education creates the conditions for advice to function; it does not replace it. Citizens should not need to become investment experts as a precondition for securing their financial futures. That is precisely what professional advice exists to prevent.

The Continent of Consensus

Josep Soler Albertí, Executive Director of EFPA Spain, put the central tension with characteristic directness: "We are in the continent of consensus on the diagnosis, but not on the solutions."

The observation cuts deeper than polite conference rhetoric. Behind the alignment on problem statements lies an uncomfortable reality: European governments have been conspicuously reluctant to communicate honestly with citizens about the long-term sustainability of public pension systems. The message that supplementary private saving is not a luxury but a necessity has not been delivered with anything approaching the urgency it demands. In the resulting vacuum, the task falls to advisers and to the industry — asked to motivate behaviour that public policy has failed to incentivise.

A Warning the Regulator Must Hear

Technology featured throughout the discussion, and appropriately so. Digital tools are expanding access and reshaping how citizens first engage with financial products. But a risk accompanies this progress: consumers increasingly turn to tools for what they perceive as financial advice, including tools that operate entirely outside any regulatory framework. The hybrid model — people starting online, turning to professional guidance when decisions become consequential — is not a transitional compromise. It is the permanent architecture of a well-functioning advisory market.

Which makes regulatory calibration all the more critical. Rules designed to protect retail investors can, if poorly designed, achieve the opposite — not by exposing investors to risk, but by pricing professional advice beyond the reach of those who need it most. FECIF's position is consistent: strong consumer protection, yes; a framework that reserves quality advice for the affluent, no.

The Task Ahead

FECIF Chairwoman Vania Franceschelli drew the thread together in her closing remarks: "Ensuring access to high-quality professional advice, alongside stronger financial literacy, will be key to fostering trust, enhancing participation in capital markets, and supporting long-term financial resilience across Member States."

The logic is sound. The political will to act on it remains the test. Europe's investment gap will not be closed by market architecture alone. It will close when millions of ordinary citizens receive advice they trust, from professionals they can access, within a framework that makes this exchange viable for both parties.

The diagnosis is shared. The profession is ready. What remains is the decision to act.

FECIF thanks all contributors to the 21 April event, in particular William Vidonja, Andreas Stepnitzka, Jacopo Borgognone, Andrea Liesenfeld, and Josep Soler Albertí.

This editorial reflects the views of the Secretary-General.