Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group : Summary of Conclusions SMSG - April 2025

Summary of Conclusions 16 May 2025 ESMA24-229244789-5281 Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group Date: 4 April 2025 Time: 09:00h – 13:00h Location: ESMA, 201-203 rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris Contact: stakeholders@esma.europa.eu No Item 1. Report from the Steering Committee The Steering Committee reported that the Group had adopted by written procedure on 17 March 2025 its advice on ESMA’s draft RTS on issuer-sponsored research. 2. Recent market developments a. ETF market SMSG member, Thomas Richter, gave a presentation on the development of the ETF market in Germany. He showed that the ETF market had grown significantly since 2020 and that it represents a significant portion of the retail funds market in Germany. He noted several particularities of the market, including that it is a highly concentrated market, that ETFs dominate equity fund sales, that most ETFs follow an MSCI Index, and that it is a low-margin business. SMSG members discussed the presentation, noting particularly the much bigger German ETF market share compared to other EU countries. They indicated that this evidence is also the result of the increasing sales of ETFs by German banks. They pointed out that large numbers of ETFs have implications for corporate governance. ESMA staff noted the points raised and emphasised the importance of investors getting a fair deal on costs no matter the product. b. Retail investor barometer SMSG Vice-Chair, Sari Lounasmeri, gave a...