On 18 November 2019, the European Commission published a press release announcing the composition of a high-level forum on the Capital Markets Union (CMU).

The forum is made up of a group of 28 experts from the civil society, the business and finance community and other non-public sector institutions who will provide insight and support the Commission’s goal to develop the CMU.

The forum will be chaired by Thomas Wieser, former chair of the European Financial Committee, and will comprise of three sub-groups focusing on:

• the creation of an ecosystem enabling greater capital raising, with particular focus on innovative SMEs;
• the development of the European capital market architecture, paying particular attention on how new financial technologies can support this process; and
• investment choice and accessibility to capital markets services to promote greater retail investors’ participation

The forum will begin its work on 26 November 2019. The high-level forum intends to submit a set of policy recommendations on the CMU by end of May 2020.