ERRATUM - In the original version of this document published on 19 October 2017 in table V.3 on page 4, the values in the last four rows of column five were accidentally misreported. For this reason, ESMA now provides a corrected version, including the corrected values and a footnote pointing to the initial mistake.

ESMA carried out a first analysis on fund performance measures, developing initial metrics to analyse the impact of ongoing fees, one-off charges and inflation on the returns of mutual funds. Key preliminary results for the EU fund industry show: Substantial reduction in net returns available to investors, especially in the retail sector and weakly cost- or price-sensitive investment decisions by retail investors

On average ongoing fees and one-off charges and inflation-reduced returns available to investors by 29% of gross returns between 2013 and 2015. These reductions apply to all market segments, while varying across jurisdictions, asset classes and client types. Relative return reductions range from 11% for passive equity fund shares to 44% for retail fund shares in bond mutual funds. Relative and absolute return reductions for actively managed and retail fund shares tend to exceed those of passively managed and institutional fund shares. Despite the impact of fees and charges on the net outcome to investors, these do not seem to be reflected in investor choices.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its 2018 Work Programme (WP), which sets out its priorities and areas of focus for 2018 in support of its mission to enhance investor protection and promote stable and orderly financial markets.

For 2018, the key areas of focus under ESMA’s activities of supervisory convergence, assessing risks, single rulebook and direct supervision will be:

• Providing guidance and promoting the consistent application of MiFID II and MiFIR by market participants and National Competent Authorities (NCAs);

• Ensuring the quality, integration, usability and transparency of the data that ESMA collects;

• Contributing to the development of Level 2 measures in relation to the revised Prospectus regime; AND

• Enhancing the effectiveness and lasting impact of supervisory activities at individual credit rating agencies (CRA) and trade repositories (TR) level.

The overall budget for 2018 is expected to be €42,051,386 with a projected staff of 232.