France's Financial Markets Authority (AMF) published findings from a mystery shopping campaign assessing how retail investors are guided through mobile app journeys when opening and using securities accounts with 14 investment service providers active in France. The AMF found onboarding and investing processes are generally simple and fast, and urged firms to strengthen the quality of information and investor education provided before clients make investment decisions. Conducted between November 2024 and January 2025 by IPSOS for the AMF, the exercise required the shopper to open a securities account, invest in an exchange-traded fund (ETF) and, where available, buy a fraction of a share. In nearly two thirds of cases accounts could be opened in under five minutes, though some took 72 hours or more, and the AMF warned that rapid access may reduce time for reflection and risk awareness for less experienced investors. While regulatory documents were usually available, it noted significant shortcomings including some documents provided only in foreign languages and fee transparency that remains improvable. On some platforms, the presentation of ETFs and fractional shares was ambiguous and did not always make clear when the exposure could be to derivatives, and the AMF observed game and social-media style features such as community functions and copy trading that can encourage impulsive investment decisions by downplaying risk. The AMF will feed back the results to the supervised institutions and relevant professional associations and will discuss the findings with European peers through meetings under the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), including supervisors of foreign-based firms whose apps target French investors.

Original source View in tracker