France’s Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) and Financial Markets Authority (AMF) have published findings from around 60 inspections conducted between 2020 and 2024 on the distribution of financial instruments, life insurance and other savings products to retail clients. The review identifies weaknesses in three areas: product governance and monitoring, the suitability and documentation of advice, and the management of remuneration and conflicts of interest. The findings concern firms or themes selected for particular risks and do not represent the market’s overall level of compliance. Product governance weaknesses included insufficiently detailed or standardized target markets, limited use of negative target markets and inadequate product testing, reporting and review. Some distributors relied passively on target markets defined by manufacturers or group entities, although every participant in the distribution chain must obtain relevant product information and adapt its approach to its own clients. Customer advice was sometimes standardized or based on incomplete, inconsistent or outdated information. Firms also failed to distinguish consistently between clients’ capacity to bear losses and risk tolerance, document the reasons for recommendations or justify advice that diverged from clients’ stated profiles, investment horizons or financial circumstances. Conflict management procedures were often generic, while risk maps and registers did not fully capture group affiliations, differentiated commissions, volume incentives or distributors’ interests in recommended products. Remuneration structures for distributors and employees sometimes favored particular contracts, investment options, programmed payments or transactions over client needs. The authorities also found incomplete or potentially misleading cost disclosures and isolated cases of excessive nonmonetary benefits. The AMF plans further supervisory work on distribution and a separate synthesis of inspections concerning the marketing of real estate investment companies in 2026.
France’s Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority and Financial Markets Authority identify persistent weaknesses in retail product distribution across around 60 inspections
France’s ACPR and AMF identified persistent weaknesses in product governance, retail advice and conflict management across around 60 inspections conducted from 2020 to 2024. Deficiencies included poorly defined target markets, standardized or inadequately documented recommendations, weak product monitoring and remuneration structures that could favor higher-paying products. The findings relate to selected firms and risk themes rather than the market as a whole.