European Commission promotes Savings and Investment Accounts

On September 30, 2025, the Commission Recommendation on Increasing the Availability of Savings and Investment Accounts with Simplified and Advantageous Tax Treatment (C (2025) 6800 final) ("the Recommendation") was published.  

The Recommendation is the result of one of the objectives in the European Commission's strategy for a Savings and Investment Union (SIU), which involves promoting greater participation of retail investors in the capital markets. For a more detailed analysis of the SIU, see our Post | Savings and Investments Union: key points and analysis.

The Recommendation, aimed at the Member States and not of a binding nature, establishes the legal framework for a Savings and Investment Account (SIA), a financial instrument that will enable (i) European Union (EU) citizens to invest their savings in capital markets, yielding higher returns and increasing their wealth; and (ii) EU companies to have more funding opportunities to grow, innovate and create jobs.

In this post, we explain the main characteristics of the common legal framework the European Commission proposes to enable the Member States to approve the SIAs or improve the regimes for savings and investment instruments existing under their national laws, i.e., a legal framework  based on three general principles: simplified opening process, flexible configuration and advantageous tax treatment.  

Investors in SIAs

SIAs are configured as legal instruments aimed at individuals, regardless of age or wealth. As indicated in Recital (9) of the Recommendation, SIA frameworks “aim for high participation rates across all age groups, from young people all the way through to older people, accommodating all citizens regardless of whether they are able to invest small or large amounts.”

Therefore, there are no minimum investment amounts in SIAs nor any limits regarding carrying out frequent investments in them, and it is possible for a single investor to open several SIAs with different financial institutions.

Opening a SIA should be based on the principles of simplicity, trust, security and easy access, whether carried out in person or online. 

Reduced costs

The Recommendation proposes that costs from opening and operating a SIA are "fair, proportionate, transparent and easy to understand".

Also, the costs of transferring the assets of one SIA to a different SIA, whether offered by the same or a different provider, should be limited to administrative costs that are clearly stated in the terms and conditions of the contract.  

SIA providers

The Recommendation states that SIAs will be offered on the market by the financial services companies that are authorized to provide the following services: (i) the reception and transmission of orders, (ii) the execution of orders on behalf of clients, (iii) the safekeeping and administration of financial instruments, (iv) portfolio management, and (v) investment advice. As can be observed, all these services are those provided by the regulated legal figure of investment services companies.

The Commission, aware that the success of SIAs largely depends on strong competition between investment services companies, predicts that SIAs could be objects of crossborder marketing and offered by these companies to investors regardless of the Member State where they have been authorized to carry out these activities. Along these lines, the Recommendation also indicates that the Member States should allow movement—total or partial—of the positions held in an SIA opened with an SIA provider from a Member State to another SIA provider established in another Member State, provided the latter is authorized to provide services relating to SIAs and meets the rules on tax compliance applicable to it.

The Recommendation specifies that investors should not be required to obtain advice to invest in an SIA, unless that advice is mandatory under EU law.

Assets eligible for investment and criteria for portfolio diversification

Without prejudice to the application of the suitability and appropriateness test in the terms required by MIFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive), the investors will be able to take out a wide range of financial instruments through SIAs. Investments in shares, bonds, and units of collective investment undertakings are considered appropriate investments, and the Member States can include other financial instruments provided they are adequate for the investors. 

Expressly excluded from the definition of appropriate investments are those involving complex and high-risk financial instruments, such as complex derivatives and cryptoassets other than those that qualify as a financial instrument eligible to be held in an SIA.

In its Recommendation, the Commission encourages providers with which an SIA is opened to offer investors a wide array of investment options subject to diversification criteria by classes of shares, geographic dispersion, issuers and managers, and different risk profiles. It emphasizes the appropriateness of including in SIAs investment portfolios that contribute to the digital transition, green and social transitions, as well strengthening EU security and defense. 

Advantageous tax treatment and simplified tax compliance

The main feature of the legal framework proposed for SIAs consists in applying a favorable tax treatment to promote the uptake of SIAs.

It is proposed that the Member States regulating the SIAs ensure that the underlying assets have the most favorable tax treatment that is given to income from any asset class or given to an investment product or account.

Specifically, the Commission proposes that the favorable tax treatment consists of one or more of the following tax incentives:

• tax deductions linked to the amount of the investment made in the SIA;
• tax exemptions applicable to income generated by the underlying investments in the SIA;
• deferral tax measures for the income generated by the underlying assets of the SIA until the date of the reimbursement of the underlying investments (In line with this tax incentive, the Recommendation indicates that the transfer of securities in an SIA due to a change of SIA provider (whether domestic or crossborder) must not trigger a taxable event for income tax nor entail loss of the tax incentives that, if applicable, were applied to the SIA, and that all this is without prejudice to bilateral tax treaties and to Member States’ taxing rights in case of change of the tax residence of the retail investor.); and
• application of uniform tax rates on the income generated by the underlying assets of the SIA or on the value of the underlying assets in the SIA.

In addition to the tax incentives, the Commission proposes in its Recommendation that the Member States that approve the regulation of the SIAs establish simple tax compliance procedures. For this purpose, the Recommendation proposes that the Member States ensure that both the investors and the SIA providers have access to understandable information about the applicable tax treatment, information that is easily accessible. It also suggests that it is the investment services companies that settle the taxes due on behalf of the SIA holders or supply the tax authorities of the investor's place of residence with all relevant information, so that the latter can easily meet all tax obligations.  

Next steps. Turn of Member States

Once the legal framework for establishing SIAs is published, the content of which is not binding for the Member States, the success of the SIAs will depend on the number of Member States that regulate them in their respective jurisdictions or that adapt the financial products already approved to the SIA framework.

To speed up the creation of a single market for SIAs, the Commission encourages the Member States to exchange best practices on designing SIAs and to try to align the tax incentives they establish for the SIAs to the maximum, enabling crossborder movement of capital in the single market and approving measures that correct possible cases of double taxation. It also encourages them to develop awareness and knowledge campaigns about the advantages and risks of investing through an SIA, including them within the actions linked to the financial literacy strategy. 

For more information, please contact our Knowledge and Innovation Area specialists.