Savings and Investments Union

The Commission will adopt measures (legislative or non-legislative) by Q3 2025 to create a European blueprint for savings and investments accounts or products based on existing best practice. These measures will be accompanied by a recommendation addressed to the Member States on the tax treatment of savings and investments accounts. The Commission will closely monitor the uptake of these accounts and regularly report on progress.

The Commission will facilitate agreement between Parliament and Council on the Retail Investment Strategy. However, the Commission will not hesitate to withdraw the proposal if the negotiations fail to meet the intended objectives of the Strategy.

The Commission will adopt by Q3 2025 a financial literacy strategy to empower citizens, raise awareness and increase their participation in capital markets, thus creating a more “investment savvy” culture. The strategy will also seek to increase exchanges of best practices among Member States and to provide further guidance on implementing the existing financial competence frameworks.

The Commission, together with the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and national promotional banks among others, will explore how to increase opportunities for retail investors to access suitable financial products that allow them to contribute to the funding of EU priorities.

The Commission will issue by Q4 2025, recommendations on the use of and best practices for auto-enrolment, pensions tracking systems and pension dashboards that will set out best practices and lessons learned from across the EU and recommend the development of such tools.

The Commission will by Q4 2025, review the existing EU frameworks for Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORPs) and the Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) with the aim of increasing participation in supplementary pensions to ensure adequate income in retirement and improving the capacity of pension funds to direct households’ savings into productive and innovative investment.

The Commission will by Q4 2025 take measures to stimulate equity investments by institutional investors. To facilitate investment in equity by insurers, the Commission will specify in the Solvency II delegated act the eligibility criteria for the favourable prudential treatment of long-term investments in equity. For banks, the Commission will give guidance on the use of the favourable prudential treatment for investments under legislative programmes. The Commission will consider replicating such treatment also for insurers under the Solvency II delegated act. For pension funds, the Commission will clarify how such investments can be in line with the prudent person principle enshrined in current legislation. In parallel the Commission will address any further undue barriers to equity investment by institutional investors.

The Commission will by Q3 2026, review and upgrade the EuVECA Regulation to make this label more attractive, including by widening the scope of investable assets and strategies.

The Commission will work with the EIB Group and private investors to deploy the scaleup TechEU22 investment programme.The Commission will explore ways to support the European Tech-Champions Initiative 2.0 (ETCI)23 that will be launched by the European Investment Fund (EIF) by 2026, and other potential inititatives that aim at crowding in private investment into venture and growth capital, supporting higher-risk innovation and contributing to pan-European capital market integration, will have a particular role to play. The Commission also encourages the EIB Group to explore appropriate mechanisms to facilitate exit opportunities for European companies.

The Commission will take action to remove differences in national taxation procedures creating administrative burden and barriers to cross-border investment and also support Member States’ actions for this purpose, e.g. through exchanges of best practices, enforcement of free movement of capital and other single market freedoms, and by issuing recommendations.

In implementing the Listing Act, the Commission will ensure that EU listing rules as established in delegated and implementing acts are simple and that burdens are minimised, to increase liquidity and the supply of capital to listed companies, thereby making EU public markets more attractive.

The Commission will by Q3 2026, put forward measures to support exits by investors in private companies, possibly through multilateral intermittent trading of private company shares.

On securitisation, the Commission will make proposals in Q2 2025 focusing on simplifying due diligence and transparency, and adjusting prudential requirements for banks and insurers.

The Commission will set up in Q2 2025 a dedicated channel for all market participants to report on encountered barriers within the single market and will step up enforcement action to accelerate their removal.

To address barriers to more integrated trading and post-trading infrastructures, the Commission will come forward in Q4 2025 with an ambitious package of legislative proposals including rules on central securities depositories, financial collateral and settlement and on the trading market structure, with the aim of further removing barriers to cross-border activity, modernising the legislative framework to recognise new technologies and financial developments, as well as ensuring better quality of execution and price formation on EU trading venues, whilst reducing administrative burden and considering replacing Directives with Regulations.

The Commission will in Q4 2025 propose legislation to remove remaining barriers – national or at EU level – to the distribution of EU-authorised funds across the EU. The Commission will also come forward with measures to reduce operational barriers affecting cross border groups with a view to simplifying operations of asset managers, both large and more specialised, and ensuring a more efficient access and servicing of clients.

The Commission will assess the need for, and consider a potential review of the Shareholders Rights Directive by Q4 2026 to make it easier for investors, intermediaries and issuers to operate across Member States.

The Commission calls on the European Supervisory Authorities and National Competent Authorities to make full use of currently available tools andimplement the simplification agenda as outlined in the Simplification Communication.

The Commission will propose in Q4 2025 measures to strengthen supervisory convergence tools, and make them more effective.

The Commission will also make proposals in Q4 2025 to achieve more unified supervision of capital markets as indicated in the Competitiveness Compass, including by transferring certain tasks to the EU level.

The Commission invites the co-legislators to address shortcomings in arrangements to manage the failure of mid-sized banks by agreeing on an ambitious outcome in the crisis management and deposit insurance framework negotiations. The Commission stands ready to provide its full support in this process. In addition, the Commission will follow with decisive steps to further develop the Banking Union, including by identifying a way forward on the European Deposit Insurance Scheme, considering discussions held so far based on the Commission proposal.

The Commission will publish in 2026 a report assessing the overall situation of the banking system in the Single Market, including the evaluation of the banking sector’s competitiveness.

The Commission continues assessing developments in banking markets to ensure a swift reaction whenever financial stability, the internal market, or international competitiveness of the EU banking sector is threatened.

The Commission will publish a Savings and Investments Union mid-term review by Q2 2027. This will give a state of play on overall progress and reflect input received from this outreach and engagement.