Background
The EBA first issued its POG guidelines in 2016 to address conduct risks and strengthen consumer protection in retail banking. The POG guidelines are addressed to manufacturers and distributors of products within the EBA’s remit, including mortgages, personal loans, deposits, payment accounts, payment services and electronic money. The POG guidelines provide a framework for robust and responsible product design and distribution by manufacturers and distributors and inter alia include requirements for manufacturers, with regard to their internal control functions; the identification of the target market; product testing; disclosure to consumers; product monitoring, remedial actions, and distribution channels.
Update
The EBA has revised the POG guidelines given recent legislative and market developments, particularly the growing prominence of ESG products to better reflect ESG objectives and explicitly address greenwashing risks, while maintaining high standards of business conduct.
The revised POG guidelines follow an earlier consultation that the EBA conducted on 9 July 2025 which set out proposed amendments regarding the subject matter, manufacturer’s internal control functions, the target market, distribution channels, information for distributors and information and support for the manufacturer’s arrangements.
A public hearing was also held on 11 September 2025. By the end of the consultation paper the EBA had received 13 responses, which the EBA subsequently assessed in detail, as presented in the
feedback table in the Final Report now published.
Next steps
The POG guidelines will be published in all 24 languages in 2026. They will apply from 11 January 2027.