Get prepped on PRIPs

As UK financial institutions grapple with the FSA’s consumer protection drive, a separate initiative covering the same area looms from Europe. Rosali Pretorius and Emma Radmore look at the Commission’s current plans and consider their possible effects on retail product design and distribution.

Rosali Pretorius (partner) and Emma Radmore (senior associate and professional support lawyer) are members of SNR Denton’s financial markets and regulation group. Contact them at rosali.pretorius@ snrdenton.com and emma.radmore@snrdenton.com.

It is practically impossible to keep track of all the initiatives coming from Brussels, Canary Wharf and beyond that will affect the retail markets. Even before the financial crisis, regulators had concerns over how certain products were being sold to retail investors. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) in particular had already put new rules in place to try to ensure investors were better informed and product providers and intermediaries took better account of the needs of their market. Now, the FSA has in place the cornerstones of its Retail Distribution Review (RDR), but will the European Commission’s initiative on Packaged Retail Investment Products (PRIPs) derail it?