For long‐term and pension savers, the year 2022 was undoubtedly a calamitous one. Poor capital market performance and sky‐rocketing inflation across all European Union (EU) Member States resulted in disastrous returns, both in nominal and real terms, for virtually all of the product categories analysed in this report. This comes after a year 2021 that
The Real Return of Long-term and Pension Savings 2023 – Austria The Real Return of Long-term and Pension Savings 2023 – Belgium The Real Return of Long-term and Pension Savings 2023 – Bulgaria The Real Return of Long-term and Pension Savings 2023 – Croatia The Real Return of Long-term and Pension Savings 2023 – Denmark
For long‐term and pension savers, the year 2022 was undoubtedly a calamitous one. Poor capital market performance and sky‐rocketing inflation across all European Union (EU) Member States resulted in disastrous returns, both in nominal and real terms, for virtually all of the product categories analysed in this report. This comes after a year 2021 that
On November 28th BETTER FINANCE and FESE will be hosting a webinar on ‘Enhancing Retail Participation in Capital Markets Through Pension Products’. As part of European Retirement Week 2023, the webinar will assess the Retail Investment Strategy’s impact on pension investments in capital markets and explore the reasons behind Europeans’ limited investment in pension products.
For a decade, BETTER FINANCE has flagged the persistently low real returns in EU long-term and pension savings. As government and occupational pensions dwindle, Public Authorities urge earlier and increased savings for retirement. Yet, this advice often disregards a fundamental issue: inadequate, sometimes negative, long-term real returns after inflation. BETTER FINANCE reports disprove the claim
The recent ARTE documentary titled “The Future of our Pensions” explores how to make the EU pensions system more effective at providing adequate returns. This in-depth feature examines pension systems throughout the European Union and includes interviews with policymakers, scholars, stakeholders, and retirees to provide a comprehensive look at the current state of pensions in
Pensions Report - Overview BETTER FINANCE is committed to ensuring pension adequacy and transparency in pension returns for EU citizens. We recognize the ongoing challenges faced by pensioners in attaining a sustainable retirement income, including the impact of ‘financial repression’ on the purchasing power of EU pensioners and the growing strain on the provision and
BETTER FINANCE published the 10th edition of its “Real Return of Long-Term and Pension Savings report | 2022 Edition”. Download the full report in English for free here. A Summary version of the report can be found below.
According to a leaked draft of the European Union’s first proposal to the US on trade in services and investment, financial services will not be included in the negotiations at the next round of talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). In an attached note to Member States, the European Commission proposes that, until the US engages on regulatory cooperation, the
On December 3rd, the Bulgarian Financial Forum, a member organisation of BETTER FINANCE, held an event to discuss “Alternative solutions to the banking crisis”. The conference gathered not only a large number of legal and financial professionals but also a broader public interested in the topic. High-level speakers presented alternatives views to the mainstream narrative
On April 14, the ESAs (European Supervisory Authorities) launched a consultation on the draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) outlining the framework for the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). The consultation is aimed at gathering public views on how to ensure a proportionate implementation of the requirements and will be open until July 14. Given that RTS cover the
Brussels, 07 April 2014 – Following last week’s political agreement between the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the EU on the proposed Regulation on key information document (KID) for packaged retail investment and insurance products (PRIIPs), the ECON Committee of the European Parliament finally adopted the Regulation on key information that
The launch of the BETTER FINANCE Manifesto was accompanied by the BETTER FINANCE Questionnaire – a few concrete questions sent to all candidates and major political parties and groups in the EU. The results of the questionnaire will be published before the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The launch of the BETTER FINANCE Manifesto was accompanied by the BETTER FINANCE Questionnaire – a few concrete questions sent to all candidates and major political parties and groups in the EU. The results of the questionnaire will be published before the upcoming parliamentary elections.
On September 9, 10 & 11, Eurofi held its annual Financial Forum in Luxembourg, in association with the forthcoming Luxembourg EU Council Presidency. The event focused on the integration challenges that the EU and the Eurozone face, bringing together industry representatives, regulators and political decision makers. Guillaume Prache, Managing Director of BETTER FINANCE, participated in the event as a speaker
On 3 October 2013 the «Commission des Sanctions de l’AMF», the French Financial Markets Regulator, held a very interesting comparative law conference on Market Abuse comparing the legal systems of the UK , the USA and France. Guillaume Prache, the managing director of EuroFinUse, took the floor to point out the major divergence between the
Lately, many shareholders in public limited companies have turned to the PanSlovenian Shareholders’ Association (VZMD) and stated that they have received various letters and very strange offers from IGOR ŠTEMBERGER, the CEO and owner of ILIRIKA bornz-posredniška družba, d.d. (a brokerage company). In certain cases, the offered prices for shares were extremely low. In others, they offered shareholders shares of the company ILIRIKA MOJA
A month before the International investor conference and the meeting of the European Federation of Investors and the Financial Services Users (BETTER FINANCE) and the World Federation of Investors (WFI) in Slovenia, the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) published an interview with the VZMD President, mag. Kristjan Verbič. In it, mag. Verbič touches on the main topics of
Investors have pulled an average of £3.5bn a month from active funds since Mifid II rules highlighted the extra cost of active management to fee-pressured advisers. […] The Mifid rules introduced at the beginning of 2018 made it mandatory for advisers to break down costs for their clients periodically in the interest of greater transparency
Collective Redress Directive – a directive for initiating court actions against companies who infringe consumers rights
By Jean Medernach – The main role of EFRAG, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group, is to advise the European Commission on whether new IFRS should be endorsed in Europe. The criteria for endorsement of new or revised IFRS are: Technical: do they meet the criteria of understandability, relevance, reliability and comparability of the financial
International Investors' Conference | Vienna | 13 October 2023 Hellas2022 - A New Era of Investor Protection, Sustainability & Pension Reform Sustainable Value for Money Conference - November 2019 A New Deal for European and Romanian Financial Services Users EU Capital Markets 2024 Investor Empowerment in the Digital Age Equity Financing of the EU Economy
The European Central Bank and the central banks of the Eurozone launched a common European platform for the settlement of securities transactions called Target2-Securities (T2S). Due to integration of central securities depositories into a common European platform, the Central Securities Clearing Corporation (KDD) in Slovenia is terminating all accounts that do not have a designated
The team at BETTER FINANCE is deeply saddened by the news of the sudden departure of Leif Vindevågvice-president of the European Federation of Financial Services Users. We all wish to convey to convey our most sincere condolences to Leif’s family, friends and colleagues at Aktiespararna, our Swedish member organisation. Leif was a strong supporter of
A little more than a week ago, BETTER FINANCE announced the results of its replication of the ESMA investigation into Closet Indexing. Following up on this announcement, today BETTER FINANCE launches www.checkyourfund.eu, allowing stakeholders and individual investors to go through the results of the research and, in some cases, find out whether their investments are
For its March Newsletter, DG FISMA (the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services, and Capital Markets Union) interviewed Alin Iacob, the new chairman of the Financial Services User Group (FSUG), and Board Member of BETTER FINANCE. Alin Iacob is also the chairman of the Association of Romanian Financial Users (AURSF). In the interview,
The European federation of retail investors, BETTER FINANCE, has criticised the new composition of stakeholder groups at the European supervisory authorities, branding it “a step backwards with regard to a balanced representation between industry and consumers in EU financial rulemaking.” Read the full article here.
The crisis- and Brexit-laden context have given the project new arguments to be on the European agenda. […] This is the second try for the Capital Markets Union (CMU). Europe had launched this project five years ago with the idea of supporting the financing of the economy via the capital markets. […] There is now
In a letter to European commissioners, BETTER FINANCE said that investors would have to wait another full general meeting period to be able to exercise their voting right if SRD II’s implementation is postponed. As a number of stakeholders are demanding the commission to postpone the implementation of the Shareholder Rights Directive II (SRD II),
With a global pension gap forecasted to mushroom to $400 trillion by 2050 and income replacement rates decreasing, EU citizens are increasingly asked to rely on personal pension products to complement the insufficient government-sponsored mandatory and occupational pension plans. Unfortunately, independent research by BETTER FINANCE into the real net returns of European pension savings has
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Whereas the UK was widely considered the leading force of the Capital Market Union (CMU), Theresa May’s speech on (date)… seems to announce serious turbulence ahead. Launched in 2014, the CMU intends to reduce barriers to cross-border investing and promote bond markets instead of bank lending. Theresa May declared that there will be no
The European Union’s securities regulator is looking at what action to take after finding that up to 15 percent of actively managed funds may be misleading investors by covertly tracking a stock index. Indeed consumers have long suspected some of the funds that charge them higher fees to scour the market for the best picks
BETTER FINANCE was mentioned in several articles covering the story by Reuters on Closet Index Trackers. Reuters & Yahoo Finance: "EU watchdog considers action against "closet" tracker funds." Closet Indexing Finally on ESMA’s Radar? For years now the active management of investment fund portfolios has suffered negative criticism with financial headlines relegating the failing practice
Ziarul Financiar, a Romanian newspaper, reports on the private pension situation in Romania. Romanians are likely to on average accumulate €17,000 during their lifetime through private pension plans. This amount would last them for just 4 years into retirement, reports the newspaper. This news comes despite the fact that Romanian private pensions had some of