Strengthening Europe’s financial framework
The European Union (EU) financial services framework fosters a stable, transparent and integrated single market, promoting financial stability, consumer and investor protection, and efficient cross-border access to banking, investment services, insurance, pensions, payments and emerging areas such as crypto-assets. Key legislative pillars provide prudential rules for banks and investment firms (e.g. Capital Requirements Directive (CRD), Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR), conduct and investor protection standards (Markets in Financial Investments Directive (MiFID II), Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD), market integrity and transparency measures (Market Abuse Regulation (MAR)), and robust anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing rules (Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD), Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR)) support efficient markets, sound risk management and access to safe financial products. Post-crisis reforms have advanced the Capital Markets Union and sustainable finance integration, while also addressing digital opportunities and risks arising from technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), crypto-assets (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), and digital operational resilience (Digital Operational Resilience Act DORA).
Milieu delivers legal and policy expertise to the European Commission (Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA)), the European Parliament, and agencies (e.g. European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG)). We have undertaken completeness and conformity checks on national transposition (e.g. MiFID II, UCITS, second Payment Services Directive (PSD2)), legal mapping, gap analyses, evaluations, fitness checks and thematic studies on retail investor protection, sustainable finance, payments and anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). We supports clients to assess practical effectiveness and coherence, developing evidence-based options to refine the regulatory framework.
Our areas of expertise and selected projects
Explore our work across banking, financial markets, retail investor protection, sustainable finance, anti-money laundering and audit through selected projects for EU institutions and agencies.
Compliance Assessments (EU-27) and Alignment Assessments (candidate countries) in the areas of banking and finance — European Commission, Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA)
Compliance Assessments (EU-27) and Alignment Assessments (candidate countries) in the areas of banking and finance — European Commission, Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA)
Milieu is ranked first under a cascade Framework Contract with DG FISMA from 2025 to 2029, following the Exclusive Framework Contract held by Milieu from 2015 to 2019. In accordance with Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU), we support the European Commission to assess full and complete transposition of directives and regulations in the areas of banking and finance in the 27 Member States. These compliance assessments (i.e. completeness and conformity checks) involve detailed analysis of each Member State’s transposition measures and preparation of summary national reports highlighting possible gaps or incorrect transposition that may lead to infringement procedures by DG FISMA.
We are also assisting the Commission to verify the alignment or approximation of the national legal frameworks of candidate, potential candidate, or associated countries with the EU acquis in the financial sector and in competition policy. Third countries covered by the scope of the current Framework Contract are: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, San Marino, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine.
Disclosure, inducements and suitability rules for retail investors study — European Commission, Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA)
Disclosure, inducements and suitability rules for retail investors study — European Commission, Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA)
A key objective of the Capital Markets Union Action Plan is to promote increased retail investors’ participation via improved investment choice and access to capital markets, given the low level of participation by retail investors in financial markets in the EU. The investment information disclosed, and in some cases the advice received during the investment decision-making process, are important influencers of the final investment choice. The study assessed whether the disclosure, inducements and suitability rules in EU legislation are working as intended and examined how they affect the decision-making of retail investors. The interplay between the legal frameworks in the scope of this study was a particular focus of the study.
Milieu led two tasks: 1) Review the existing disclosure and inducements rules as set out in MiFID II, IDD, Packaged Retail and Insurance Investment Products Regulation (PIRRPs), Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), UCITS, Direct Marketing of Financial Services Directive (DMFSD), Solvency II Regulation, and the Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) Regulation, and analyse potential redundancies, inconsistencies, overlaps and gaps; and 2) Assess the rules for the demands and needs test and the suitability assessment for retail investors. We provided country researchers for stakeholder interviews and desk research related to all other tasks in this study.
Read the final study report here.
Study on the Audit Directive, as amended by Directive 2014/56/EU) and the Audit Regulation — European Commission, Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA)
Study on the Audit Directive, as amended by Directive 2014/56/EU) and the Audit Regulation — European Commission, Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA)
Directive 2014/56/EU, amending the Audit Directive, and the Audit Regulation were introduced in response to the 2008 financial crisis to address deficiencies in audit reports and declining investor confidence. This EU audit reform strengthened auditor independence by limiting conflicts of interest and excessive familiarity with management. It also aimed to increase competition and reduce systemic risk in a highly concentrated market dominated by the largest audit networks.
This 2022 study provided DG FISMA with quantitative and qualitative data on implementation of this reform across selected Member States and Norway. It covered provisions on audit report and committee transparency, mandatory audit firm rotation, prohibitions and fee caps on non-audit services, auditor appointment processes, and investigation/sanction systems. The analysis supported the European Commission’s evaluation of EU audit rules’ effectiveness for public-interest entities (PIEs) and non-PIEs, with a view to enhancing transparency, auditor independence, competition and pan-EU supervision through national authorities and the Committee of European Audit Oversight Bodies (CEAOB).