Dorota Nowalińska spoke on IZFiA Forum panel on investor onboarding

Dorota Nowalińska, acting Director of the Investment Firms Department at the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (UKNF), joined a panel titled ‘Capital Market Round Table. Welcome onboard: how to carry out investor onboarding wisely in the world of MiFID?’, during the 20th Funds Forum organised by the Polish Chamber of Fund and Asset Management (IZFiA). 

Dorota Nowalińska focused on the need to have a broader view of the investor onboarding process. She has emphasised that the process should not be identified only with the MiFID questionnaire, already simplified for non-complex instruments, as agreed. Onboarding begins much earlier: from the moment when a potential client starts searching information about investment services and products. 

She added that a modern investor, especially from a young generation, used many digital sources of knowledge, applications and social media, so financial institutions should adjust their communication style to the new habits among recipients. In this context, Dorota Nowalińska mentioned the growing role of technology and financial influencers, who become an increasingly relevant channel for reaching future investors and building their interest in capital markets.

Dorota Nowalińska said that pension products such as IKE and IKZE accounts had become notably more popular in recent years; for many people, using those accounts becomes as natural as using a bank account. In her view, the use of modern communication channels and technologies and the fact that users function in a digital environment with ease could translate into wider interest in investing and into a change of today’s statistics regarding investor attitudes.

Nowalińska added that the goal of the financial supervisor is to promote investment activities and create conditions conducive to broader participation in capital markets. Such openness, however, means that greater risk has to be accepted not only by investors themselves but also by financial institutions as well as distributors and manufacturers of investment products. 

Nowalińska added that the development of technology could facilitate that process by reducing traditional contacts with clients and increasing their self-reliance, although that also created new challenges in terms of risk management. Despite the challenges and thanks to cooperation between the regulator and market participants, Poland will be able to effectively implement appropriate changes to promote investments.