ESMA 2025 report: cross-border fund marketing in focus

January 30, 2026

ESMA has published its 2025 report on marketing requirements and marketing communications under the EU’s cross-border distribution of funds regime, compiling input submitted by national competent authorities (NCAs) during 2025.

Zeidler Group recently delved into what firms need to know.

Released on 6 January 2026, the report is issued every two years and provides an overview of national laws, regulations and administrative provisions that govern the marketing of UCITS and AIFs across European Member States. ESMA said its next report will be published in two years.

The document is intended as a practical reference for UCITS management companies, AIFMs and asset managers promoting products across borders in the European Union. It summarises national marketing rules and highlights areas that firms should factor into their compliance checks when communicating with EU-based investors and prospective investors.

ESMA’s key finding is that national rules on fund marketing have not seen significant changes since 2023. While the framework may be relatively stable, the report reinforces that firms still need strong oversight of how materials are drafted, reviewed and updated to meet local expectations.

To compile the report, ESMA gathered information from NCAs via a questionnaire, focusing heavily on marketing communications. NCAs were asked to outline requests for amendments based on ex-ante verification (where used), as well as requests and decisions following ex-post verification, including the most frequent breaches. They were also asked to describe common breaches of Article 4 requirements under Regulation (EU) 2019/1156 and provide examples.

Those examples are included in Annex IV and can be used as practical guidance when drafting or reviewing marketing communications.

For the first time, the report also includes statistics on cross-border fund marketing notifications in the EU, drawn from ESMA’s database and the ESMA Register for cross-border marketing of AIFs and UCITS, published in July 2022.

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