EU knows Priips Kid is not fit for purpose

Key information document is not meeting its objectives

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Two European Union officials have separately admitted that the key information document for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (Priips) isn’t working.

MEP Markus Ferber and Diego Valiante, a senior official at the European Commission’s directorate-general for financial stability, financial services and capital markets union (Fisma), said that Priips, in particular the Kid, were not fit for purpose.

Both were speaking at the annual conference of the European Federation of Financial Intermediaries and Financial Advisers (Fecif).

Paul Stanfield, secretary general of Fecif, said: “One of the most alarming, but pleasing, conclusions from the event is that even EU officials realise that the key information document under the Priips regulation is not meeting key objectives.”

In addition, when asked by Stanfield if Mifid II, IDD and Priips had led to consumers being better informed, not a single member of the audience believed that they had.

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The Priips Kid has been almost universally derided since inception. The biggest criticism is that it could further complicate matters for investors.

In July, the chief executive of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), Ian Sayers, said: “The [Financial Conduct Authority] seems more interested in defending the regulations than accepting what is obvious to everyone else, that Kids are confusing and misleading.”

Similar criticisms were levied at the Kid by the European Fund and Asset Management Association (Efama) the previous month.

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