After the 2023 AGM season and looking ahead to the 2024 season, BETTER FINANCE and its member organisations voice concerns about the erosion of shareholder rights. Inadequate rules for Virtual Annual General Meetings (AGMs) in some Member States highlight the need for broader engagement and representation frameworks for investors to truly benefit from digitalisation. The
Eurozone inflation mushroomed from 3.4% to 10% in one year, further deepening Europe’s cost-of-living crisis, yet the best the European Central Bank (ECB) could muster is a late and timid hike of interest rate from 0 to 0.75%. Financial repression policies in place since the crises of 2008 and 2009 are being tightened further in
BETTER FINANCE welcomes the initiative of ESMA to clarify certain aspects related to the application of the MiFID II provisions on the appropriateness test and requirements for execution-only services. In addition, BETTER FINANCE commends ESMA on adapting the Guidelines on suitability assessment for the appropriateness test as the two procedures are, to a certain extent,
BETTER FINANCE is pleased to announce that Jella Benner-Heinacher, the Deputy Chief Director of the Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz (DSW) and BETTER FINANCE Vice-President, was appointed to the Board of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) as an observer with speaking rights to be the only representative of EU citizens as “retail” investors. EFRAG
Düsseldorf, 01 July 2020 – DSW, the leading shareholder association in Germany, repeatedly criticised Wirecard in the last years for its lack of transparency and weak Corporate Goverance structures. „The ad-hoc disclosure of 18 of June 2020, in which the company stated that there was no proof for the escrow accounts about 1.9 billion €
Pension funds are supposed to focus on the long-term with a natural investment perspective stretching decades. From this perspective their policies should keep a keen eye on the future of the planet. Although this should be common sense, research conducted by Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP), managed by BETTER FINANCE’s UK member ShareAction, shows that 90% of the
It is rather telling that the European Commission’s website features a page called “Expert Groups explained”, aimed at clarifying what Expert Groups are, what their role is and how they are constituted. In a nutshell, Expert Groups are bodies set up by the Commission or its departments to provide advice and expertise in relation to
Lord Hill, European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union shares his opinions on the financial consequences a Brexit could have on the UK. “Financial services are important because they are Britain’s single most important industry, and biggest contributor of tax – £67bn last year. We need the industry to succeed not
The Retail Investment Strategy (RIS) compromise currently on the table for a European Parliament vote blatantly disregards the interests of retail investors and the establishment of a competitive Capital Markets Union (CMU). Should Ms Yon-Courtin’s proposed compromise be approved by the ECON committee on 20th March and subsequently put to a plenary vote one month
BETTER FINANCE welcomes and supports EIOPA’s ongoing work on a supervisory toolkit to assess the value for money offered by unit linked and hybrid insurance products. Since its creation, BETTER FINANCE has been fighting for regulatory and supervisory action to improve the returns of long-term and pension saving products. As BETTER FINANCE research shows, high