What changed between the draft committee report and the plenary report

Added:46. Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to moving towards regulatory simplification, and expects that its efforts in this regard will lead to less complexity in financial products, while safeguarding high standards of investor protection; asks the Commission to apply the principles of its Financial Literacy Strategy, as well as the principles of proportionality, subsidiarity and evidence-based analysis, in the context of possible initiatives on banking, financial markets or insurance regulatory frameworks in order to make financial products more transparent and easier to understand for end users, without undermining existing standards of protection for consumers and investors; considers it important, furthermore, to consider these principles in the planned education package, anticipated in the Commission’s 2026 work programme;

Added:47. Stresses the need for systematic policy coherence across financial literacy, retail investor protection rules, the European blueprint for Savings and Investment Accounts, other initiatives under the savings and investments union, and banking and financial market regulations, to guarantee the protection of consumers and safeguard the offering of transparent, risk-appropriate but easily accessible financial products for citizens;

Added:48. Stresses that financial literacy must also cover cybersecurity skills, including the recognition of phishing attempts, online scams and AI-generated fraud, and calls on the Commission to link its financial literacy and cybersecurity strategies through coordinated public awareness campaigns;

Added:49. Supports the designation of an annual ‘European Financial Education Day’ to promote ongoing awareness-raising initiatives, following up on the European Economic and Social Committee's opinion of 16 July 2025 entitled ‘Financial literacy and education for Europeans’;

Added:50. Reiterates its call for systematic coherence with legislative instruments beyond financial services and the banking sector, and underlines the importance of guaranteeing that financial literacy matters are taken into account in the context of the future digital fairness act and the enforcement of the Digital Services Act, so that the duties of online platforms and consumer-law rules support financial literacy outcomes and safe digital investment journeys;

Added:51. Points out that the digital revolution brought about by AI offers an opportunity to combine financial education with digital literacy, as financial education can be personalised using AI and various digital tools; calls on the Commission to explore, in a report to be presented to Parliament, the potential, risks and limitations of AI in promoting financial literacy, including personalised AI-driven education tools tailored to different user needs, and the use of AI technologies to detect fraud, scams, deepfakes and other AI-generated threats;

Added:52. Stresses that AI can support the scale-up of affordable financial advice, enable automated personalised portfolio creation, expand financial education programmes and underpin the delivery of tailored nudges to encourage behaviours optimised for an individual’s financial goals; points out that AI tools can also entail significant risks, depending on how they are used by finfluencers; calls on the Commission to carefully consider how to address the impact of AI, in this regard, and to mitigate the potential risks, including related to the use of personal data;

Added:53. Encourages the Commission to integrate national comparison schemes for Savings and Investment Accounts into an EU comparison mechanism, with all-in fee comparison calculators and visual explainers on aspects such as risk and return, compounding, inflation and fees, among others;

Added:54. Reiterates, in this regard, that the portability of Savings and Investment Accounts across providers and borders is important to fulfil the goals of the savings and investments union and increase financial awareness and literacy; understands, in this context, that the portability of EU Savings and Investment Accounts should be low-cost and should not trigger taxable events;

Added:55. Calls on the Commission to thoroughly evaluate the possibility of producing a comprehensive report, to identify the need and added value of possible targeted legislative initiatives to adapt and simplify essential legislation to the political objectives of enhancing financial, digital, data and media literacy;

Added:56. Underlines the importance of financial literacy initiatives and content in also addressing the real-economy impact of investments driven by corporate social responsibility standards, namely environmental, social and governance standards, and their broader value to society;

Added:57. Underlines the potential added value of projects on financial literacy, digital influence and retail-investor protection within the Horizon Europe programme, in line with the need to attract global behavioural finance talent to the EU;

Added:58. Stresses the importance of integrating comprehensive evidence-based information on crypto-assets into financial education initiatives;

Added:The responsibility of finfluencers and digitalisation for enhancing financial literacy in Europe

Added:59. Highlights the growing role of finfluencers as intermediaries of financial information who often target young and previously underserved audiences; notes their potential to improve financial literacy, but recalls that they must comply with existing financial promotion and consumer-protection rules, and have greater responsibility and accountability towards their audiences; recognises the increasing prominence of finfluencers as the main vehicles of commercial communications on financial or investment services for certain groups;

Added:60. Understands that social media content provides an accessible flow of information to the public, and emphasises that the aim of any financial literacy initiatives should be to promote responsible and accessible knowledge-sharing, and not to restrict the creativity or reach of finfluencers;

Added:61. Reiterates that there is a sharp distinction between finfluencers who operate transparently, i.e. those who declare conflicts of interest and provide educational content, and individuals who use financial education as a smokescreen, acting fraudulently or with malicious intent, promoting unauthorised products or giving unqualified advice, including by messaging people directly or sending links to group messages, to promote speculative products and betting or gambling services, often in breach of EU rules on false advertising and consumer protection; recognises that the core activity of some of these finfluencers is often based on attracting attention, and that this can lead to the promotion of high-risk, speculative products unsuitable for retail investors, which requires a specific approach by national and EU authorities; stresses, therefore, the need for effective cross-border enforcement of EU law in this regard, and underlines the role of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network in ensuring this;

Added:62. Encourages the finfluencer community to receive financial training to enable them to produce independent content and check the veracity of information; encourages the Member States to offer training to finfluencers on legal obligations and the basics of financial education, delivered by public authorities and accredited providers;

Added:63. Notes that, while financial advisers are subject to strict regulatory requirements, finfluencers may de facto act as online financial advisers, yet are not currently subject to any specific regulatory framework, thereby leaving the door open to misleading practices; notes, in this regard, the changes would be introduced by the proposed directive to amend Directives (EU) 2009/65/EC, 2009/138/EC, 2011/61/EU, 2014/65/EU and (EU) 2016/97 as regards EU retail investor protection rules (the Retail Investment Strategy Omnibus Directive), which seek to address the risks posed to retail investors by finfluencers by placing obligations on finfluencers and the financial services firms engaging their services; notes, however, that some finfluencers are neither engaged by authorised financial institutions, nor offer authorised financial products or advice, and therefore fall outside the remit of the competent authorities’ supervision;

Added:64. Encourages the Commission to explicitly cover finfluencers and platforms hosting financial content in the forthcoming European code of conduct for private and not-for-profit organisations, namely through a voluntary seal for compliant creators, in order to lay down common minimum requirements on transparency, on managing conflicts of interest and on the quality of information provided; underlines the importance of obligations and ethical standards for finfluencers, as well as for the brands cooperating with them, given their potential impact on the financial well-being of their audiences;

Added:65. Points out that under the existing legal framework, financial intermediaries must comply with measures that seek to afford high standards of protection for investors; notes, in addition, that compulsory measures – and the corresponding investments – aimed at improving the technical expertise of financial advisers form an integral part of this; notes that the agreement reached on the updated Retail Investment Strategy will introduce a requirement for a written agreement between finfluencers and investment firms, enhancing transparency and the protection of retail investors;

Added:66. Stresses the need for a clear and effective framework by which national competent authorities can monitor and supervise finfluencers, to protect consumers from misinformation and conflicts of interest, and to preserve trust in online financial education;

Added:67. Calls on online platforms to disclose to consumers, in a transparent manner, the risks associated with higher-risk financial instruments, for example by using risk warnings, and to implement know-your-promotion tools to label commercial content; recommends the introduction of quick, efficient learning instruments embedded in sponsored content, aligned with EU/OECD competence frameworks and referring to trusted public resources;

Added:68. Underlines the importance of the effective oversight and enforcement of the EU legal framework, in particular the Digital Services Act and the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, in relation to online commercial communications, in terms of safeguarding consumers’ well-being and reducing risks of financial harms online;

Added:69. Calls on platforms to continue promoting prominent and legitimate educational channels on financial literacy, and underlines the responsibility of platforms to identify and mitigate risks of misleading content and online fraud, including by implementing innovative features in the field of labelling commercial communications, risk-warning solutions and fast-track notice-and-action procedures against illegal or clearly harmful content; notes the importance of maintaining a regulatory framework that remains flexible and capable of incorporating emerging trends in financial markets, thereby ensuring that regulatory responses keep pace with real-world developments, including those linked to social media and finfluencers;

Added:70. Urges platforms to refine their identification and handling of content that might encourage pyramid schemes or other potentially deceptive practices targeting inexperienced retail investors; stresses the need for rapid and compulsory intervention by the platforms to remove misleading or fraudulent content, with clear consequences for the influencers involved in such activities;

Added:71. Emphasises the need for educational programmes for finfluencers, in order to ensure that they fully understand the applicable legal frameworks, ethical standards, transparency and disclosure obligations, and the importance of communicating both the benefits and risks of the products or services they promote clearly and in a balanced manner; calls, furthermore, on the Member States to promote training for finfluencers on the legal rules and ethical standards they must follow when promoting financial products;

Added:72. Underlines the social responsibility of finfluencers, considering their capacity to increase outreach towards a new public and their contribution to increasing levels of financial literacy; calls, therefore, on these digital actors to contribute to establishing the European Financial Literacy Strategy, and to participate in events and initiatives promoted by the Commission and/or the Member States, while complying with the highest standards of independence and transparency and abiding by rules on unbiased financial promotion;

Added:73. Declares its willingness to help evaluate the added value of EU guidance on finfluencer communications, given the potentially negative impact of advertising risky products and unverified or misleading advice promoted by some actors without proper accountability;

Added:74. Draws attention to the fact that if finfluencers share, on social media, any opinion in relation to the value or price of a financial instrument, or recommend an investment strategy, even for educational purposes, they may be posting an investment recommendation falling under the scope of the Market Abuse Regulation5; notes that some public communications posted on social media can carry risks in relation to market abuse, i.e. market manipulation, insider dealing and unlawful disclosure of inside information6;

Added:75. Urges the European Securities and Markets Authority and the Member States’ national authorities to issue practical guidance on when social media posts qualify as investment recommendations under EU market-abuse rules, and clarify disclosure duties;

Added:76. Notes the growing use of AI-generated financial content, and calls for standards on the disclosure of AI origin and on watermarking, in line with the Artificial Intelligence Act7 and sectoral guidance on AI use in retail investment services;

Added:77. Calls on the Commission to fully enforce the EU’s digital rules, notably the Digital Services Act, to ensure that online platforms fully live up to their responsibility to mitigate risks and protect consumers from online fraud and financial scams, including AI-generated deepfakes; calls, furthermore, on the Commission, the Member States and the European Supervisory Authorities to strengthen their monitoring and early detection capabilities, including through the use of advanced analytical tools, to better protect investors and safeguard confidence in the financial market, as public trust is key for building financial literacy and unlocking private investments;

Added:78. Recalls that the Member States have an obligation, under the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, to promote and take measures regarding the development of media literacy skills, and to report to the Commission on the matter; encourages national media regulators to include topics concerning financial literacy and finfluencers when applying measures aimed at developing media literacy skills;

Added:79. Calls on the European Board for Media Services and the European Board for Digital Services to provide further guidance on possible actions aimed at increasing digital and media literacy, including activities related to finfluencers, and to continuously take coordinated actions designed to minimise the risk of users becoming victims of financial scams or surreptitious commercial communications related to financial or investment services;

Added:80. Proposes that the Commission organise a pan-European summit involving finfluencers, financial services and fintech representatives, consumer representatives and regulators, to discuss best practice for improving online financial literacy and to explore appropriate, proportionate approaches (such as self-regulation or voluntary standards) to ensure the accuracy of digital financial content; recommends that the proposed summit include civil society organisations, trade unions, consumer associations, educators and institutional stakeholders;

Added:81. Calls on the Commission and the governments of the Member States to work with finfluencers to produce informative, fact-based, responsible and engaging targeted media campaigns about the opportunities afforded by retail participation in financial markets, and to boost financial literacy in an attractive way, in order to build a culture of investment in the EU;

Added:82. Underlines that the use of digitalisation and AI can generate substantial added value in making investment opportunities, competition and transparency more visible, by providing, among other things, financial literacy tools, fee and product comparison, and personalised return assessments based on real-time market data;

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83. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.