1. As provided by Article 16(2) of the ESMA Regulation, ESMA also sought the advice of the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group's (SMSG) [The SMSG response has been published on the ESMA website (Ref: ESMA22-106-474).]. The SMSG's overall view of these guidelines was positive and it stated:
"[…] the guidelines are sound and beneficial to the protection of the investor. The SMSG is particularly happy with the approach taken by ESMA to not merely update the previous guidelines in light of the MiFID II, but to also thoroughly re-examine all guidelines and add new guidance where necessary (in particular in respect of robo-advice). Also references to insights of behavioural economics and the insertion of a correlation table are much appreciated. Furthermore the explicit confirmation of the "portfolio approach" to investment advice and portfolio management (para 80-81), consistent with the guidelines on target market, is applauded by the SMSG."
2. The SMSG had also some remarks on the
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