Calls for promoting a national and European strategy to promote retail investment to channel citizens’ savings
MADRID, 21 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) has warned this country that “we will strengthen the capital markets, the European economy will regret it for decades”.
The leader of the Spanish stock market supervisor has declared in the opening speech of the presentation of the V Observatory of Savings and Investment in Spain, prepared by Bestinver and IESE, that what he observes year after year in this diagnostic test is that “the patient does not get worse , but he needs shock treatment.”
In that sense, he has argued that the way in which financial savings are invested in Spain and in Europe can “manifestly be improved”, while the proportion of deposits is unusually high (close to 35-40% in the EU) and investment in variable income is surprisingly low (it does not reach 27% in investment funds in Spain).
“We are literally risking our position as an economic power,” Buenaventura has framed accordingly, and then noted that “there is consensus on what should be done, but there are some divergences on how to achieve it.”
To change the situation, Buenaventura has presented a series of proposals whose main axis consists of promoting a national and European strategy to promote retail investment to channel citizens’ savings into financial instruments: “Its natural destination should be investment funds , pensions, bonds and stocks”.
Stressing that this must be the main line, he has gone so far as to declare that “if we do not promote this cultural and structural change, no other measure will work, so it is a truly necessary condition.”
For this reason, he has urged that the ways to promote these significant changes go through stable tax incentives for personal investment, a favorable framework for investment in pension funds and plans and the promotion of financial education, both in young people and in adults, with resources clearly superior to current ones.
On the other hand, Buenaventura has focused on keeping international capital markets open for the development of Europe, although he has drawn attention to the fact that this opening must be bidirectional, that is, freedom for non-European investors to invest and disinvest. in Europe and the freedom of European savers to invest and divest their savings outside Europe.
In the legal section, it has insisted on advancing a single regulation, by transforming the directives into regulations to complete the regulatory corpus of the European Union (EU), and improve coordinated supervision, through an ESMA with more robust powers. to introduce discipline and convergence.
Regarding the idea of central supervision, he has argued that progress should be made exclusively in areas where it is more efficient and reasonable, in reference to large entities or infrastructures with a clearly cross-border nature and systemic size at EU level.
Finally, Buenaventura has reasoned that the consolidation of market infrastructures should not be prevented – “there are more than 200 execution centers” – and has pointed out that, “sooner or later, there will be a consolidation of infrastructures; I do not think that We have to force it, but not hinder it either,” he said.
Likewise, it has set its sights on being sensitive to the market ecosystem, in the sense that it is necessary to take care and analyze in “great detail” any regulation that is imposed on listed companies or on collective investment vehicles and that may reduce their competitiveness or the attractiveness of those vehicles.
“We must avoid using listed companies as an experimental population, introducing regulations that address much broader social or economic problems,” he cited in reference to issues such as gender diversity or information on emissions.
“The time is now, we have political attention at European level, the solutions are known and the regulatory tools are available; we cannot allow ourselves to fail,” stressed the head of the CNMV.
