taxud/2414/08 - European Commission - Europa

Council Directive 112/2006/EC, with it the supply of software as a constitutive but
ancillary element of the account operation service.
Example 3: A bank provides its customers with shares and other securities; the portfolio
of these investments can vary in accordance with the economic circumstances; the bank
advises the portfolio holder on the composition of the portfolio and adapts its
composition following the instructions of the customer. For every acquisition or sale of
shares and securities the bank charges a fee to its customers. The price for the
management of the portfolio which includes the monitoring of market developments as
well as advice on its composition is included in these fees. The acquisition or sale of
shares and securities are exempt financial services under the new draft Articles 135 (4)
(e) and 135a (8) of Council Directive 112/2006/EC and with them the supply of portfolio
management as a constitutive but ancillary element of these financial services.
With portfolio management becoming more complex and costly, the bank decides to
outsource the portfolio management for securities to a third party; a specialised portfolio
manager now exclusively and constantly analyses market developments and advises the
bank on every single client portfolio. He also arranges the acquisition and sales of
securities. The bank itself continues to supply these portfolio management services as a
part of its supplies of securities to its customers.
Let's look at first at the relation between the portfolio manager and the bank: The
portfolio management remains a constituent element of the supply of securities; without
it no decision on the composition of the portfolio could be made and no sales or supplies
of securities would be generated. It has two "genetic markers" linking it to the exempt
supply of securities: the constant analyses of market developments and the advice on
every single client portfolio. It is therefore a constituent element in the exempt supply of
securities. However, it is no longer a part of such a financial service; it has been
separated from that financial service and become a distinct whole and therefore a distinct
service in its own. The main question is therefore whether portfolio management still has
the specific and essential character of an exempt supply of securities. The answer is yes;
in the concrete case it allows (for example) to manage the investment risks linked to the
acquired securities and limit that risk by spreading the investment over several securities
in the portfolio; it also allows to optimise the investment by eliminating less performing
securities from the portfolio and replacing them by acquiring better performing
securities; in the concrete case portfolio management thus possesses the specific and
essential character of an exempt supply of securities.
However, the importance of portfolio management goes beyond that specific case; it is a
typical and classic tool for the management of the investment risks for all exempt
insurance and financial services; it allows the investor to pursue his own individual and
specific investment strategy which can be risk-friendly or based on security aspects and it
is a fundamental tool in controlling the investment and investment returns. Therefore it
has the essential and specific character of all exempted insurance and financial services.
Therefore Article 13 (1) (a) of the draft Regulation includes portfolio management in
general as having the specific and essential character of an exempt financial and
insurance service.
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