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126 Krzysztof Waliszewski

using the services of investment advice must be given a brochure and comprehensive information on financial products thatthey recommend to purchase. The introduction of these provisions is to increase market transparency and the level of protection of individual investors [James]. In December 2012, the German govemment adopted a draft of Facilitation and Regulation of Fee-based Investment Advice, in relation with Financial Instruments (Entwurfeines Gesetzzur Fórderung und einer Regulierung Honorarberatunguber Finanzinstrumente Honoraranlageberatungsgesetz), and its adoption took place on 15 July 2013. The law has been in force sińce 1 August 2014. The act introduced a new category of financial advisors, paid only by customers (Honorar-Finanzanlagenberatermiteineneigenen § 34h Erlaubnistatbestand in der Gewerbeordnung GewO). The aim of the new regulations is to ensure greater transparency with respect to the remuneration of investment advisors, and thus strengthen consumer protection. On the basis of these new regulations, each investment advisor will have to be licensed in accordance with the German Industrial Codę. Rainer Juretzek, Managing Director of the European Academy for Financial Planning (EAFP), estimates that the number of Finanzanalagenberater under section 34f of the Industrial Codę in the coming twelve months (2013-2015) will shrink from the current 40,000 to 30,000. He also assumes a generał consolidation of the industry.

Table 7. Number of advisors employed and consumers served by the biggest financial planning companies

Com- pany	Number of Financial adyisors						Number of customers
	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
DVAG	33 522	31 920	37 199	37 383	37 113	37 203	4 000 000	5 200 000	5 400 000	5 500 000	5 900 000
AWD	6 040	6 439	6 009	5 726	5 292	4 392	480 800	429 100	441 600	n.a.	n.a.
MLP	2 481	2 535	2413	2 382	2 273	2 132	701 000	728 000	785 500	774 500	794 500
OVB	4 210	4 765	4 862	4 664	4 600	4 908	2 610 000	2 780 000	2 777 000	2 800 000	2 860 000
Total	46 253	45 659	50 483	50 155	49 278	48 635	7791800	9 137 100	9 404 100	9 074 500	9 554 500

Source: own study based on [Finanzvertriebe: Weniger... 2012],

In four of the biggest companies in Germany there were about 50,000 advisors employed, providing seryices to about 10 min Germans. This accounted for approximately 10% of the population of Germany (Table 7). The preliminary culmination and termination point of regulation represents the recently adopted European Financial Seryices Directive MiFID II. This is being implemented until 2016/2017 in Germany.

In Europę there are 48 industry organizations gathering financial advisory professionals, caring for the ąuality of seryice of its members and self-regulating the activity of financial adyisors and associating them in financial advisor federations [Zięba 2007], The most important include:¹

1

Morę about EFPA and EFFP certification systems: [Waliszewski 2012],