The first edition, edited by prof. Danny Busch of Radboud University and prof. Guido Ferrarini of the University of Genoa, appeared in 2017 in the Oxford EU Financial Regulation Series (Oxford University Press). Prof. Veerle Colaert of KU Leuven and prof. Andrea Perrone of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, have joined prof. Busch as co-editors of the second edition. The new edition comes at an opportune moment, as it will address both the Retail Investment Strategy and the Market Integration and Supervision Package.
Prof. Busch opened the working group with an overview of the MiFID II investor protection regime, which he pictured as a layered building:
- The foundation is the distinction between agent and principal.
- The ground floor holds the conduct-of-business rules, built on informed consent.
- The upper floor holds product governance and product intervention.
He argued that sustainability, artificial intelligence, Brexit and the Savings and Investments Union are now reshaping this building. He closed with a question: whom will the regime still be protecting when the Retail Investment Strategy applies in 2029?
