The topic of “excessive compliance costs and complexity” received the greatest number of responses to the EC's call for evidence on the EU regulatory framework for financial services.

The Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union received 288 responses to its call for evidence, which aimed to consult all interested stakeholders on the benefits, unintended effects, consistency, gaps in and coherence of the EU regulatory framework for financial services. The call was also intended to gauge the impact of the regulatory framework on the ability of the economy to finance itself and grow.

Stakeholders from 25 countries replied but 59 per cent were from the UK, Belgium and France. Most respondents were from organisations in the financial sector.

The call for evidence set out 15 topics for consultation and the four areas that received most comments were:

• excessive compliance costs and complexity;
• unnecessary regulatory constraints on financing;
• overlaps, duplications and inconsistencies; and
• reporting and disclosure obligations.

The replies made reference to more than 40 pieces of legislation and upcoming measures. These were the top six:

1. Capital Requirements Regulation and Directive (CRR/CRD IV);
2. Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and Regulation (MiFID/R);
3. European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR);
4. Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD);
5. Directive on Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities (UCITS); and
6. Solvency II.

For more information, the summary of responses is on the Commission's website.