In June 2020, the Wirecard scandal unraveled, generating unprecedented retail investor detriment worth about €20 billion. BETTER FINANCE reacted, labelling it an “outrageous case of corporate governance, external auditing and supervisory failures”[1] and calling for an urgent reform of EU Audit Rules. The responsibility and liability of the external auditor is at stake. More than
CEPS together with Milieu and Europe Economics have been commissioned by the European Commission (Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union) to conduct a study on the Audit Directive and Regulation. Please find BETTER FINANCE’s response to the survey for the CEPS Study below.
The EU Commission has announced to work on an audit reform in the aftermath of the Wirecard scandal. ” Wirecard has clearly illustrated what can happen if the three lines of defense – Internal Control System, good corporate governance incl. a strong Supervisory Board and the external audit fail to perform. This is a major issue
It is with surprise that BETTER FINANCE and its member organisations representing financial services users read the headline on 18 June 2020 that Wirecard AG (“WD”), one of Europe’s FinTech success stories, may have mis-reported €1.9 billion in its balance sheets, filling for insolvency a few days later.
The European Union’s auditors are doubling down their fight with the European Central Bank, citing three occasions on which it denied access to crucial documents. The ECA asked the European Parliament and the EU member states to take its side on this conflict ensuring that any documents that they deem necessary could be obtained. According
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis one thing became abundantly clear: the EU was not adequately equipped to ensure the effective cooperation and coordination between national financial supervisory bodies, or the consistent application of the EU legal framework across all Member States. The creation of EIOPA (as one of the European Supervisory Authorities)
The EU Parliament JURI Committee has voted on 26 April on the new proposals aimed at reforming the audit profession looking to increase audit quality and investor renew confidence in financial reporting. EuroFinUse believes that the approved text will only partially resolve the problems this Audit Reform was aiming to tackle. Press Release
On 26 March, EuroFinUse, the only organisation dedicated to defend the rights of European financial services users, organised a high-level conference on the audit reform, hosted by British MEP Sajjad Karim, to discuss the proposals linked to audit tenure, non-audit services policy, quality, transparency, pricing as well as those targeting the role of audit committees
DSW, the German association for private investors and BETTER FINANCE member, requested a special audit for Deutsche Bank in court. Marc Tüngler, general manager of DSW, explained that they gave Deutsche Bank the chance to voluntarily appoint an auditor, but they now deemed it necessary to involve the court since their request wasn’t met with
BETTER FINANCE, the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users, has published a position paper on the European Commission’s Retail Investment Strategy (RIS) proposals. The organisation fully supports the EC’s RIS objectives: consistent rules, enhanced retail investor protection, unbiased advice, competitive financial markets, and transparent and comparable product information. The RIS constitutes a once-in-a-lifetime
On Wednesday 14 December, the United Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed Regulation Best Execution, seeking to establish a best execution regulatory framework mandating that securities brokers and dealers execute deals at the best price available. BETTER FINANCE, which itself has been highlighting the need for more transparent and fair European stock markets, applauds the