EU aims to boost retail investment as savers hold €11T in cash and deposits

European households are sitting on roughly €11 trillion in cash and bank deposits. That’s about one-third of their total financial assets, parked in accounts earning returns that, in many cases, barely keep pace with inflation. The effort, known as the Retail Investment Strategy, is a cornerstone of the EU’s broader Savings and Investments Union agenda. The goal is straightforward: get everyday savers to move money from low-yield deposits into capital markets, funding the kind of innovation and growth that Europe desperately needs to stay competitive globally. The plan and its price tag The European Commission has estimated that the EU’s additional annual investment needs fall somewhere between €750 billion and €800 billion. That’s a staggering gap, and one that government spending alone cannot fill. The RIS package was designed to make that migration easier and safer. Its core pillars include enhanced investor protection, improved transparency around costs and value for money, simplified regulations for non-complex financial products, and a push for better financial literacy across the bloc. There’s also a focus on addressing conflicts of interest through what regulators call indu...