The assessment of knowledge and competence as regards investment services

The FSMA published its Assessment of knowledge and competence as regards investment services (FSMA_2023_08), which discusses the ESMA Guidelines for the assessment of knowledge and competence (ESMA/2015/1886) of individuals providing investment advice for regulated firms, as well as their implementation by the FSMA.
The aforementioned ESMA guidelines cover the evaluation of knowledge and competencies of individuals who provide investment advice or information on financial instruments, investment services, or auxiliary services to clients on behalf of regulated enterprises. These guidelines are to be implemented by the FSMA in respect of regulated enterprises as defined in Article 26 of the 2 August 2002 law (Supervision Law). Therefore, the FSMA provided an integral French translation of the ESMA guidelines.
The guidelines also aim to define the evaluation criteria for knowledge and competencies required by Article 25(1) of MiFID II. The standards for evaluating the knowledge and competencies of individuals providing investment advice or information on financial instruments, investment services, or auxiliary services to clients have been set out in the Royal Decree of 1 July 2006. The decree was modified by the Royal Decree of 12 December 2021, aimed at streamlining several Royal Decrees relating to financial and insurance sector intermediation.
The FSMA intends to incorporate these guidelines to provide useful insights into applying the 2 August 2002 law’s Article 27ter, §1 by regulated enterprises mentioned in Article 26.