The conference took place in Stockholm as part of the ongoing discussion surrounding one of the ECOFIN meetings of the Swedish Presidency of the Council. More than 17 ESBG members actively took part in these bilateral meetings and had the opportunity to address key issues on a wide range of policy dossiers. While more than 25 topics have been raised during these meetings, important concerns were shared with policy makes on the Retail Investment Strategy, Digital Euro, Basel and the

Crisis Management and Deposit Insurance (CMDI). Among others, ESBG representatives met with EU Commission EVP Valdis Dombrovskis, EBA Chair Jose Manuel Campa, SRB Chair Dominique Laboureix and BCBS Chair Pablo Hernandez de Cos.

In this context, ESBG members strongly advocated against the full ban on inducements concretely highlighting the advice gap that would result from such a decision and explained to policy makers the importance of keeping different advice models that would match the needs of various types of retail customers. On digital euro, ESBG recalled the necessity of developing a sustainable business model for distributors to ensure a fair compensation of the costs caused by the digital euro.

Strong voices were also expressed regarding the importance of applying the output floor at consolidated level across member states in the context of the ongoing discussion surrounding the implementation of Basel 3. Finally, the ESBG delegation expressed serious concerns about the newly tabled CMDI proposal warning about the negative impact an enlarged scope of resolution entities could have on the financial sector and called for a proportionate approach to the resolution framework.

The Eurofi conference is a key advocacy tool that ESBG staff will continue to leverage in the future. The next edition of the Eurofi is expected to take place in Santiago de Compostela in Spain in September 2023 during the Spanish Presidency of the Council.