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In Europe, the investment consulting has been putted up for discussion. Actually, people complain about the fact, that consulting is not worth it anymore and that we are overregulated. 
And now, in 2018, MiFID II arrives and brings a regulation and a directive up again. 
Since the financial crisis, legislators created some regulations and directives, in order to increase investor protection, transparency and competition. 
Towards MiFID II - Does MiFID meet the clients’ needs in Belgium?
In this thesis, I try to understand the evolution and modifications of the different directives concerning financial instruments and how the transparency regime evolved. Thanks to some interviews and a little survey, I try to find out the investment adviser’s as well as the investor’s point of view concerning MiFID.

MiFID --- Transparence --- Transparency --- Transparenz --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Finance

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[En] Individuals are unique and influenced by many factors. In order to be able to provide an individual investor with a suitable advice or a suitable financial instrument, the Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), adopted in 2004, requires investment companies to collect many pieces of information about those individual investors. However, a strengthened version of MiFID, MiFID II, will be implemented on the 3rd of January 2018. Indeed, the financial crisis of 2008 and the evolution of financial markets spotlighted the need to strengthen MiFID. As MiFID II will set higher standards of individual investors’ protection, this thesis aims at taking stock of the current pieces of information collected and of the profiling methods used by private bankers in Belgium in order to assign an investment profile to an individual investor right before the implementation of the new directive.
After having described the factors influencing the investment decision process of individuals, I described the three dimensions a suitable advice needs to cover (financial capacity, knowledge and experience and investment objectives) according to the requirements of MiFID and MiFID II and according to the guidelines of the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) and of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Then I established an assessment grid based on those requirements and guidelines in order to assess the standardized questionnaires used by the eight banks constituting my sample. I used two different rating methods in order to assess those questionnaires. I also conducted eight interviews with private bankers of each of those banks in order to compare their profiling methods with the theoretical part of my thesis.
The results of my analysis showed that the current profiling methods and standardized questionnaires used by the banks constituting my sample do cover correctly the three dimensions. Indeed, the pieces of information that are not collected though the questionnaires are gathered though the conversation the private banker and their client have. However, a bigger sample would be needed in order to assess the situation on a national level. In addition to that, I noticed some weaknesses in the private bankers’ understanding and knowledge of behavioural biases which impact on the investment decision process of individual investors could be significant.

Profilage --- MiFID --- MiFID II --- Suitability --- Adéquation --- Questionnaires --- Investisseurs individuels --- Profiling --- Individual Investors --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Finance

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Since the 2008 crisis, the financial industry has been assailed by an endless number of regulations. Whether brand new or steps in a journey – that nobody knows when it will end – each regulation influences the financial world. They have even become one of the main challenges for the market.
Mainly implemented to enhance the financial stability of the industry or to protect customers, they are too often perceived as significant costs for companies. Indeed, the price of reaching compliance is not to be underestimated as it includes both people and technology.
However, by choosing the right approach to their implementation, the firms impacted could actually save time and money in the long run. But to do so, they need to take well thought-out and judicious actions that best suit their business. These include strategic, operational and tactical responses. The implementation journey is therefore long and difficult.

Basel III --- Solvency II --- MiFID II --- opportunities --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Finance

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The purpose of this paper is to analyse all aspects linked to brexit on the investment funds industry is an area that is heavily regulated at EU level by the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”), the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities Directive (“UCITS”) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (“MiFID”). While Brexit is not likely to occur before 2019, this paper summarise the impacts in the investment funds under different area of activities.
In the first part, the regulatory environement is detailed as well as the processus of Brexit and the players who are involved. The primary considerations of Brexit for investment management professionals and the clients they serve are a loss of passporting rights (primarily for UK firms but also for others EU firms passporting to the UK), possible restrictions on the management of assets from the UK for clients based in the EU. A loss of passporting rights for investment firms would impact several aspects of the investment management business. These include, for example, cross-border marketing and distribution of investment funds, as well as some ancillary services, such as custody and administration. The provision of investment services to retail clients may also be impacted, given the limitations of the “third-country” regimes under certain EU laws.
Then a special focus on the different outcomes of the negotiations (which comprise two phases) is described. In the second part we assess the potential impacts Brexit may have on funds and fund managers (regarding the locations of the different key fund’s players) and the needs to be considered and contingency plans put in place (with the elements to be considered). This is particularly relevant for fund managers wishing to keep EU distribution channels open. Ireland and Luxembourg are potential markets for re-domiciliation and future product initiatives as they are already hub centers for funds domiciliation.

Brexit --- Investment funds --- UCITS --- AIFMD --- MIFID --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Finance

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Pushed by various economic, regulatory and technological developments, robo-advisors are meanwhile considered one of the most important disruptive trends in the asset and wealth management industry. To evaluate the potential of robo-advisors to provide a new perspective to retail investors on the capital markets in the European Union, a systematic literature review was carried out on a practical and regulatory level with respect to selected criteria. Semi-structured interviews with experts from different fields allowed to get more in-depth and comparative information to be included in the research design. Results indicate that there is first and foremost a lack of consensus on the term "robo-advisory" on behalf of finance, as well as legal experts. Nevertheless, on a practical level, robo-advisors have the potential to attract retail investors back into capital markets, above all thanks to their simple and low-cost fee structure. On a regulatory level, robo-advisors in the European Union are embedded in a resilient framework - with MiFID II as its corner stone - which, however, needs clarification or guidance in certain regards, for example by ESMA, to ensure that risks for retail clients are mitigated.

Robo-Advice – Robo-investing – Digital Investment Advice/Portfolio Management – Automated Investment Advice/Portfolio Management – Traditional Financial Advice/Portfolio Management – Investor Protection – MiFID II --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Finance