Financial Advisory companies operating on an EU cross border basis and wishing to extend their product offering beyond IDD insurance relevant business must sooner or later consider an appropriate cross border investment advice license subject to Mifid II regulations.

However, obtaining an EU cross border MIFID II license and meeting regulatory requirements involves huge upfront and ongoing costs.  

Unless you have a business model that promises sizable Assets under Management (AUM) growth going forward to offset fee income against these costs, it may not be worth it for many companies to make this step.

Very often, local “investment advice” licenses such as the German §34 f Abs.1 GewO “Finanzanlagenvermittler” licence for instance lead to the assumption that they permit companies or individual advisers giving advice across the whole of the EU , but this is not so ! The 34f is a purely German based license which is being regulated by the regional trade associations IHK and not the BaFin, the German regulator for financial institutions.

Inspired Investment Consulting has turnkey solutions in place for financial services companies that do not seek a direct MIFID II license but a “managed” solution, enabling them to diversify their business model and create an alternative income stream without the large costs of a direct license.

These solutions also include the option to set up bespoke DFM concepts to round up the companies B to C client offering.