This ESM Brief follows up on the recent ESM Discussion Paper Capital Markets Union Redux: towards a deeper and more equitable Savings and Investment Union. In that paper, a comparative approach was applied, aiming to identify best-practice examples from EU countries, focusing on measures to broaden retail participation in capital markets and enhance cross-border investments. Many of these examples come from the Netherlands or the Nordic countries, which have the most developed capital markets in Europe. Making progress on these areas of the Eur