About 37% of Belgians between the ages of 16 and 80 invest. This percentage is a bit higher than in the previous survey, conducted two years ago, when 34% invested[1]. Despite the growing popularity of ETFs, only 16% of investors hold these in their portfolio. These are but a few of the results of the FSMA’s Retail Investor Survey 2024.In December 2024, the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), in cooperation with IPSOS, conducted an online survey of 1,500 Belgian investors. This is a representative sample (in terms of age, gender and region of residence) of the Belgian investor population between the ages of 16 and 80. The survey defines investors as respondents who hold financial products other than savings accounts, term accounts, pension savings or class 21 products. The main findings of the survey are discussed below.General profile of investorsAbout 37% of Belgians between the ages of 16 and 80 are investors. This percentage is a bit higher than the percentage of investors (34%) in the previous survey, conducted in 2022. In comparison with the Belgian population at large, investors are more often men, belong more often to the higher social classes (defined on the basis of income and occupational category) and are less likely to live in Wallonia. By contrast, investors’ age breakdown and family situation is comparable to that of the average population.Six out of ten investors have a monthly net income of between 2,000 and 5,000 euros. Half of all investors saves a maximum of 400 euros per month. The survey also shows that almost 45% of investors in their twenties have an investment portfolio of a maximum value of 10,000 euros. Half of all investors under the age of 40 have a portfolio of a maximum value of 20,000 euros[2].Portfolio compositionSavings accounts, pension savings, investment funds and listed shares are the most popular instruments among investors. 85% of investors have a savings account, a little more than half have pension savings, 38% invest via investment funds and a little more than one-third invest in listed shares. Despite the growing popularity of ETFs (see, for example, the FSMA Retail Investor Dashboard), only 16% of investors include these in their portfolio.An investor’s age determines what types of instruments are held in the portfolio. Younger people invest more often in crypto (more than 40% of those in their twenties and thirties own cryptos), ETFs and derivatives, while those over 50 invest more often in class 21 and class 23 products, investment funds and listed shares. As investors grow older, the participation rate in pension savings also increases. Although a significant number of younger people invest in crypto, ownership of the latter remains limited in absolute terms. More than 40% of cryptocurrency investors have an investment portfolio with a total value of less than 10,000 euros, and 54% have less than 20,000 euros[3].Financial literacy and knowledgeAs part of the survey, investors were asked to rate their own financial knowledge. In addition, investors took a standardized financial literacy test with questions about diversification, inflation, fixed versus variable interest rates and the difference in risk between bonds and shares. While 75% of investors correctly estimated the impact of inflation on purchasing power, a bit more than half of all investors were aware of the differences in risk between shares and bonds. 60% of investors is sufficiently familiar with the concept of diversification. The latter result is in line with the findings obtained during the webinar devoted to the FSMA’s 2023 Annual Report[4].Approximately a quarter of investors gave the correct answer to all the questions. Two-thirds of all investors who rate their knowledge to be ‘sufficient to high’ answered at least 3 of the 4 questions correctly. Investors in that group seem to assess their knowledge more or less correctly; so there is no evidence of overconfidence. Investors who rated their financial knowledge as ‘low to none’ seem to underestimate their abilities: 70% of the investors in this group answered at least half of the questions correctly.About 60% of investors rate their own knowledge as ‘sufficient or ‘high’. Young people are more cautious and consider their financial knowledge (wrongly) to be lower, while those in their 60s rate their financial knowledge the highest. Lastly, men seem to score higher on the financial literacy test than women. Of course, it should be noted that the standardized test cannot evaluate all aspects of financial knowledge adequately.Young people and the stock marketYounger investors are more familiar with the KID (Key Information Document) and the European ESG classification (in Article 6, 8 and 9 funds) than older ones. The KID is familiar to a little more than 60% of investors under 30 (and about 50% of all investors) who invest in a product for which a KID is available. Knowledge about the EU’s ESG classification, in turn, seems closely linked to the age of the investor. 80% of investors in their twenties are familiar with it, which is substantially higher than among investors in their fifties (34%) or in their seventies (18%).Younger investors also tend to consult a wider range of information sources when they make investment decisions. Their main information sources include news reports on the provider’s online environment or app, hard data (such as historical price data, press releases, half-yearly or annual reports), the prospectus or KID, or via general searches on the internet or social media, and from family and friends. Older investors, by contrast, rely mainly on the advice of a professional (such as a banker or accountant), on information available via the mainstream press or do no investment research at all. These findings indicate that young people generally have a good understanding of important financial concepts and inform themselves thoroughly when making investment decisions.Sustainability and ESGAlmost 70% of investors are familiar with the concept of sustainable investment. The rate is somewhat higher among men than among women. Investors under the age of 50 and women, in particular, consider sustainability to be important. Investors indicate that when it comes specifically to sustainable investment, they attach particular value to information about the real impact of such investments on society and the environment and about the performance of sustainable investments as compared to other investments. Moreover, investors wish to be informed about which sustainable investment products are available on the market. [1] The difference is statistically significant.[2] The questions concerning income and/or portfolio size were not answered by all respondents (about 10% did not answer these questions). The values indicated here (for these questions more than for the others) are therefore estimates.[3] The investment portfolio here includes the value of all shares held in the portfolio, and not only crypto-assets.[4] Slide 26 of the webinar on 21 June 2024.

This agreed settlement consists of the payment of 700,000 euros and the publication, by name, on the website of the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA).This press release is not available in English. Please consult the French or Dutch site.

Prior registration as an intermediary is mandatoryOnly work with persons authorized to do soUse of the name or logo of the FSMABranch 26 & branch VI products linked to investment fundsAMLCO Day 2025Read more in our newsletter (available in Dutch - French only)

Listed companies are required to submit their regulated information to the FSMA via the eCorporate platform. The information must be submitted at the same time as it is made public. Today, the FSMA published an analysis of compliance with this obligation, also in view of the future European single access point for regulated information, providing the public access to his information.This newsitem is not available in English. Please consult the French or Dutch site.

Since the beginning of this year, new procedures and deadlines apply to the payout of supplementary pensions upon retirement or in case of death.Feel free to take a look at the updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section about supplementary pensions on the FSMA website: Employees can visit the following webpage: Information for employees (French-Dutch).Self-employed persons can find the new rules by clicking on the following links:When is the supplementary pension paid out? (French-Dutch).What if the end date of the pension agreement does not match your retirement date? (French-Dutch).What are the tax rules? (French-Dutch).In addition, the FAQ section has been updated to reflect the raising of the statutory retirement age to 66 years, as well as the increase of the statutory guaranteed return and of the maximum interest rate for life insurance policies to 2.5%.Want to know more about supplementary pensions? The FSMA provides information about supplementary pensions for both employees and self-employed persons through:brochures (French-Dutch);a comprehensive FAQ section;a cost calculator that enables you to calculate the impact of the costs on the granted return and, consequently, on the supplementary pension you will ultimately receive (French-Dutch);Wikifin.be (French-Dutch).

There are various rules that apply to cross-selling products with an insurance component. Sometimes it can therefore be unclear how these rules interact. This handbook is intended to clarify the applicable rules. It contains various useful instruments such as FAQs and diagrams.The guide is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all the applicable rules governing this matter. It focuses on cross-selling with an insurance component in which an insurance policy is either the main product or an ancillary product. The handbook clarifies the various relevant concepts, the division of powers between the FSMA and the FPS Economy and the rules to be observed when cross-selling a loan and and an insurance product.For more information, please see FSMA_2025_09 (available in Dutch and French only)

ESA’s Joint Committee has published joint guidelines on the estimation of aggregated annual costs and losses caused by major ICT-related incidents. The guidelines also specify a common template for the submission of the aggregated annual costs and losses.The FSMA considers that these guidelines will provide clarity regarding the implementation of the relevant articles of the DORA Regulation. It will include them in its supervisory tool kit and practice.Read more

The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has published the second edition of its quarterly Retail Investor Dashboard.A few figures:76,000 Belgian retail investors traded ETFs during the fourth quarter of 2024, a record number, up nearly 25% on the previous quarter.During the three last months of 2024, 16,000, 19,000 and 5,000 Belgian retail investors traded for the first time in listed shares, ETFs or bonds respectively. After stabilizing earlier in the year, the number of new investors was back on the rise.Belgian retail investors together carried out over one million equity transactions in the last quarter of 2024. In one year, the quarterly number of ETF transactions rose by over 80% to reach the 207,000 mark. Half of new investors choose equities as their first investment, while just over a third prefer ETFs.A little over 40% of the total value of equities traded by Belgian retail investors was in North American shares. This is the highest percentage recorded in the last five years.

The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) is once again drawing the public’s attention to the dangers posed by fraudulent trading platforms. These platforms lure investors online with promises of quick and easy earnings. Their offers look attractive, but often they are nothing more than sophisticated scams that can lead to significant losses. How does a fraudulent trading platform work? (flowchart)Modes of contactFraudsters use various techniques to contact their targets. A fake advertisement in which a celebrity is mentioned; a website intended to 'recruit' victims;a fake profile on social media or on a dating app (Tinder, Bumble, Happn, …);a message that you have received allegedly by accident (SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.). In each case, the platform tries to lure investors by promising them very high returns in an extremely short time, often well beyond the sorts of gains that are actually achievable.RegistrationInterested investors register on the platform and deposit funds to their trading account. Generally, investors begin with a relatively small sum, such as 250 euros. Sometimes the swindlers offer to help their victims by taking over their device remotely in order to make certain transfers on their behalf, which of course allows them to download viruses or spyware.Manipulation and pressure tacticsOnce the funds have been deposited by the victim, the platform manipulates the transactions to give the impression that significant profits have been achieved. However, these earnings are fictitious and the funds have not really been invested. The fraudsters then put pressure on their victims to invest more money. They do so by means of repeated phone calls, time-limited offers to which investors must respond quickly, or by issuing threats.Withdrawals seem impossibleTo gain victims’ trust, fraudsters sometimes allow them once to withdraw a small amount. However, once an investor wishes to withdraw a larger amount, the fraudsters use various pretexts not to have to pay back any money (high costs, taxes, etc.). In the end, the fraudulent platform disappears completely, taking with it all the investors’ money.The FSMA has noted that the following websites were putting consumers in contact with fraudulent trading platforms:Jexoro (https://jexoro.com);Trilox AI (https://www.trilox-ai.com).The FSMA strongly advises against responding to offers made by the following trading platforms:1Swiss (https://1swiss.com);AIO Markets (https://aiomarkets.co, https://aiomarkets.com, https://aiomarkets.net);BCHWorld (https://bchworldex.com);Bitrue (Clone) (https://home.bitru.vc, https://bitru.io);Crownet (https://www.crownet.com);DaxFinances (https://daxfinances.com);Fintiwall (https://fintiwall.net, https://webtrader.fintiwall.pro);Finveste-markets (https://finveste-mrkts.com);GlobalTargetFX (https://globaltargetfx.io, https://globaltargetfx.com);Index Traders (https://index-traders.com);Interactive Broker (Clone) (https://interactive-broker.co.uk, live.interactive-broker.co.uk/dashboard);Markets Yield (https://marketsyield.com, https://markets-yield.com, https://marketsyield1.com);Megacix (https://megacix.com);Pips-Mastery (https://pips-mastery.com, www.clientzone.pips-mastery.com);Profit Wave (https://profitwave.cc);Profititerra (Clone) (https://www.profititerra.co, https://webtrader.reyvon.tech/login);Rise Spark Solution (https://risesparksolution.com);Seriaglobal (https://seriaglobal.com/, https://platform.seriaglobal.net);Silverfleet Capital (Clone) (https://sr-c.cc);Soft Complex (https://platform.soft-complex.com);Soros Trading, Trading Soros (https://tradingsoros.com);Trade-Trends (https://trade-trends.com);Vixacapital (https://inv.vixacapital.io, https://vixacapital.io);Xeodis (https://xeodis.com).The FSMA added these entities to the list of fraudulent trading platforms. Beware, this list is not exhaustive. If you wish to verify whether a company has the necessary authorisations to offer financial services and products, we invite you to consult our page 'Check your provider'. In case of doubt, contact the FSMA.I’ve fallen victim. What should I do?Stop making any transactions and break off all contact with the platform: don’t deposit any more money and don’t provide any additional personal or financial information. Break off all contact with the fraudsters. They may try to manipulate you in order to take even more money from you.Contact your bank: inform your bank immediately if you have made any payments to the fraudulent platform.Report the fraud to the competent authorities: Contact the FSMA and file a complaint with the police.Document all exchanges of data and transactions: gather all evidence of your exchanges of data with the platform, including emails, messages, account statements and screen shots of the transactions. These items will, of course, be very valuable when you report the fraud.Beware of ‘recovery rooms’: fraudsters contact victims of a previous scam and offer to help them – for a fee – recover their lost money. Often this constitutes yet another attempt at fraud.For more recommendations on how to avoid investment fraud, please consult the ‘How to recognize and avoid fraud’ page on the FSMA website. Please watch our awareness-raising videos as well (available in Dutch and French only).

As part of its supervision of information published by issuers, the FSMA has published the following warning.This press release is not available in English. Please consult the French or Dutch site.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS AUTHORITY, PUBLISHED IN APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 78 OF THE LAW OF 21 NOVEMBER 2017Trading in the financial instruments of AEDIFICA, ISIN BE0003851681, on Euronext Brussels will re-open on 13/05/2025 at 11:00 CET.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS AUTHORITY, PUBLISHED IN APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 78 OF THE LAW OF 21 NOVEMBER 2017Trading in the financial instruments of COFINIMMO, ISIN BE0003593044, on Euronext Brussels will re-open on 13/05/2025 at 11:00 CET.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS AUTHORITY, PUBLISHED IN APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 78 OF THE LAW OF 21 NOVEMBER 2017Trading in the financial instruments of AEDIFICA, ISIN BE0003851681, on Euronext Brussels is suspended from 13/05/2025 at 9:00 CET until the publication of a press release.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS AUTHORITY, PUBLISHED IN APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 78 OF THE LAW OF 21 NOVEMBER 2017Trading in the financial instruments of COFINIMMO, ISIN BE0003593044, on Euronext Brussels is suspended from 13/05/2025 at 9:00 CET until the publication of a press release.

With this newsletter, the FSMA informs the intermediaries and the credit providers of new developments regarding the CABRIO application.Soon, CABRIO users will also have the possibility of using itsme® as a means of verification when connecting to CABRIO.Read our newsletter (available in French and Dutch only)

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS AUTHORITY, PUBLISHED IN APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 78 OF THE LAW OF 21 NOVEMBER 2017Trading in the financial instruments of Codic International, ISIN BE0002825066 - BE0002710912, on Euronext Brussels is suspended on the request of the company from 9/5/2025 at 10:53 CET until the publication of a press release.

The law of 25 March 2025 conferring powers on the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) in the framework of the ‘EU Green Bonds Regulation[1]’ (or EuGB Regulation), has been published in the Belgian Official Gazette. The EuGB is a voluntary standard drawn up by the European Commission that is intended to foster the development of a market for 'green bonds' within the European Union. The regulation was published at the end of November 2023, and its provisions has applied since 21 December 2024.The Belgian Law of 25 March 2025[2], in turn, confers on the FSMA various powers relating to supervising compliance with the standard provided for by the EuGB Regulation.The EuGB Regulation establishes a standard to which bond issuers may adhere if they wish to be able to use the designation ‘European Green Bond’ or ‘EuGB’ for their bonds. The EuGB Regulation’s standard requires, first of all, that the proceeds of the bond issue be allocated to environmentally sustainable activities within the meaning of the European Taxonomy Regulation. Only 15% of income from the bond may, under certain strictly defined conditions, be exempted from that principle.The standard also requires heightened transparency about how the bond proceeds will be used. The issuers of European Green Bonds must therefore publish, prior to issuance, a prospectus containing the information that is usually required for issuances or admissions to trading on a regulated market of these types of securities, with some exceptions where the issuer is a sovereign. Furthermore, issuers of European Green Bonds must publish several documents whose contents and publication procedures are laid down in the EuGB Regulation: before the bond is issued, a ‘factsheet’ containing, among other things, information about the assets which the issuers plan to finance by means of the bond issue; after the bond is issued, an annual ‘allocation report’ in which the issuer sets out the allocation of the funds raised and after the bond proceeds have been fully allocated, an ‘impact report’ describing the environmental impact of the proceeds of the bonds concerned.The above documents (with the exception of the impact report, for which external review is optional) must be submitted to external review, they must be published on the site of the issuer and, in the case of operations that require a prospectus approved by the FSMA, they must be notified to the FSMA (see Communication FSMA_2019_13).Lastly, compliance with the standard is a key element in combating the risk of greenwashing and maintaining investor confidence in the green bond market. The EuGB Regulation distributes supervision of compliance with its requirements across three players:the external reviewer verifies, in particular, that the allocation of funds is compliant with the provisions of the EuGB Regulation (that is, the alignment of the funds with the Taxonomy Regulation); ESMA is tasked with registering the external reviewers and with ensuring that the latter meet the associated conditions;national authorities are among other things competent, in respect of issuers of European Green Bonds, for supervising compliance with the transparency obligations referred to above.The Law of 25 March 2025 designates the FSMA as the competent authority in this area and confers various powers on it, including (under the conditions laid down by the Law):to require issuers of European Green Bonds to publish their factsheets, annual allocation reports and impact reports on the European Green Bonds and include in those documents the information required under the EuGB Regulation; to require issuers to publish reviews and assessments; suspending or prohibiting an offer or admission to trading on a regulated market of European Green Bonds;to suspend or prohibiting advertisements; andto prohibit an issuer from issuing European Green Bonds for a period not exceeding one year.The Law of 25 March 2025 was published in the Belgian Official Gazette on 28 April 2025 and its provisions enter into force on 8 May 2025.  [1]    Regulation (EU) 2023/2631 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 November 2023 on European Green Bonds and optional disclosures for bonds marketed as environmentally sustainable and for sustainability-linked bonds. [2]    Law of 25 March 2025 on the digital operational resilience of the financial sector and containing miscellaneous provisions.

The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) warns the public against the activities of unauthorized lenders who offer consumers fake credit.The FSMA has identified 7 new fraudulent lenders who offer fake credit to Belgian consumers via the internet. Consumers come into contact with such providers in a variety of ways: they receive unsolicited messages via email or social media (Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.) or find advertisements online. Given the current economic situation, consumers often search for extra funds in the form of credit, and as a result may come into contact with questionable players.In practice, these involve fake credit that is offered to consumers in order to coax consumers into giving them money. The fraudsters claim to be authorized lenders or registered credit intermediaries, and do not hesitate to use the names or logos of well-known credit institutions. In such cases, this is considered to be a case of ‘cloned firm’ fraud.The fraudsters offer loans at very attractive conditions. For example, the credit provider claims to lend large amounts at a low interest rate. It also claims that there will be no credit check on the consumer to determine whether he or she is a poor payer who has taken out loans in the past which he or she was unable to repay.Consumers who accept the credit offer are asked to pay some costs associated with the credit up front. These may be presented as an insurance premium to cover the lender against default on the loan, file handling costs, administrative costs, etc. But these are all fictitious costs.Once the consumers have paid these so-called costs, the ‘lender’ disappears into thin air and it is nearly impossible to recover the sums paid.The FSMA therefore strongly advises not to take up such credit offers.The illegally operating companies against which the FSMA warns the public are as follows:Best Financiering (www.bestfinanciering.com)Cepreco (www.ceprecogroup.com)Credit Senior (www.credit-senior.be)CSS befinancien (https://css-befinancien.com/)Krediet Pro Finanz (www.kredietprofinanz.be)Pac Finanx (www.pacfinanx.com)Senioren Lening (www.senioren-lening.be/)***The FSMA has a number of general recommendations to enable you to recognize such fraudulent credit offers:Be suspicious if you are suddenly offered credit out of the blue via the internet or social media.Beware of any offers of credit on very favourable terms (a loan that is very large in relation to the consumer’s financial situation, at a very low interest rate or with an unusually long repayment period, etc.) that would not usually be available from authorized lenders.Be all the more suspicious if the lender makes the credit subject to the payment of a sum of money intended to cover certain costs before the credit will be granted. The justifications given for such a payment can vary: they may be called an insurance premium with a view to insuring the lender against default on the loan, file handling costs, authentication costs, administrative costs, etc. These costs are purely fictitious. Once the money has been paid, the ‘lender’ disappears and the victim never recovers the money transferred.Enquire whether the lender has the necessary authorization or registration. Via the search function on the FSMA’s website, you can easily determine whether this person has the necessary authorization or registration. Persons without an authorization or registration may not offer you credit.Consider doing a search for the person using the customary search engines. You may find testimonials by people who have already been approached by the same person. But remain alert, as sometimes these are falsely positive testimonials posted by the company itself in order to gain the confidence of consumers.More than ever, prudence is necessary. In case of any doubt, and before making any (more) payments, do not hesitate to contact the FSMA directly using the contact form on its website. As well, please feel free to notify the FSMA of any contact with a suspicious company that has not yet been the subject of a warning by the FSMA.

The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has published a new edition of its quarterly dashboard of Belgian public open-ended investment funds, generally referred to as investment funds. The overview presented in this dashboard covers the fourth quarter of the year 2024.Read the quarterly overview of Belgian public open-ended investment funds

Communication FSMA_2025_07 describes the updated IDD cartography. The new reporting rules will apply as from 30 June 2025.Read more... Communication available in Dutch and French only.