As part of the product governance requirements under MiFID II, manufacturers of financial instruments are to define a target market for the products they issue. Distributers are to take this target market into account when distributing the products. The latter is only possible in large-scale business practices if the target market for all products is identified in accordance with standardised criteria. For this reason, the German Banking Industry Committee (GBIC) together with the German Investment Funds Association (BVI) and the BSW agreed on a common minimum standard for the German market to identify the target market (the Target Market Concept).

Due to changes in the legal requirements, the Target Market Concept was supplemented in December 2021 to include information on sustainability-related objectives and sustainability factors (the ESG Target Market Concept). The ESG Target Market Concept was amended again at the end of 2024, partly to implement new regulatory requirements.