Today, BETTER FINANCE, the leading advocate for European citizens as investors, savers, shareholders, and financial services users, unveils its manifesto ahead of the upcoming European Union elections in June 2024. Entitled “Sustainable Value for Money: Reconciling Individuals, Enterprises & The Planet,” the manifesto calls for a renewed emphasis on better outcomes for consumers, long-term investment,
On 19 October 2023, BETTER FINANCE together with BEUC, Finance Watch and WWF, published a public letter addressed to Ms. Yon-Courtin and to the European Parliament’s shadow rapporteurs, expressing disappointment in the Omnibus and PRIIPs draft report in the Retail Investment Strategy file. ➡ BETTER FINANCE Position Paper on the Retail Investment Strategy ➡ BETTER
BETTER FINANCE expresses concern over Deutsche Bank’s disclosure of missing Russian shares. The bank recently revealed a shortfall in the shares underlying depositary receipts (DRs), further increasing the challenges for European investors seeking to recover their investments in Russian listed companies, especially individual non-professional ones. DRs are used in international stock trading as a means
BdV and BETTER FINANCE once again examine the stability of the main EU insurers This year, the German Association of Insured (BdV) together with BETTER FINANCE and Zielke Research again examined selected European life insurers. The 10 largest life insurance companies from France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands were analysed. There are still considerable
In a late bid to address soaring inflation in the Euro area, the European Central Bank (ECB) increased interest rates for the first time in 11 years in July 2022, raising its main rate to 0 percent after eight years of negative rates, and reaching 0,75% today. Notwithstanding, Eurozone inflation hit a new record high
21 April 2022 | Financial repression poses a major problem for the protection of savers: policymakers must act and stop using savers’ cognitive biases to their detriment. Facts | On average, over the last 30 years, annual increases in consumer prices (“inflation”) have averaged +2% for the euro area[i], a historically very low level. Nonetheless,
There are differences between intermediated or “packaged” investments (life insurance, funds, savings plans, etc.) and direct investments in capital markets (ETFs, bonds, shares). Several independent studies indicate that the higher the annual fees, the lower the average medium and long-term returns of investment products. Annual fees for intermediated products are much higher than those for direct savings in securities. The impact of these fees in France has been especially significant for certain insurance
BETTER FINANCE is very pleased to welcome Sébastien Commain to the BETTER FINANCE Team in Brussels where he has started in his new role as Research and Policy Officer. As part of the BETTER FINANCE Research and Policy team, Sébastien will focus on Financial Services Regulation and Capital Markets Research. Sébastien has extensive experience with
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Definitions are constantly evolving around the key concepts of sustainability but jurisdictions, regulators, and international organisations around the globe agree on the common elements of each of the below.
Brussels, 11 September 2020 – On 10 October 2014, BETTER FINANCE wrote to ESMA[1] to ask for an investigation into the issue of falsely “active” funds, a practice also known as “closet indexing”. Today, it praises ESMA for its considerable efforts towards addressing the issue. Indeed, on 9 September, ESMA published a Working Paper on
On March 24 Guillaume Prache, Managing Director at BETTER FINANCE, spoke at the EFAMA Conference on “The Future of Financial and Investor Education in Europe” on the role of the European institutions and the finance industry in promoting financial education. With the aim of developing new common objectives and policy priorities, the conference provided a substantial debate
The Regulation for a Key Information Document (KID) for Investment Products faces serious threats from within the European Parliament itself. In order to present a united front on behalf of the hundreds of millions of European consumers and individual investors and draw attention to this travesty, EuroFinUse joined forces with Finance Watch and BEUC (the
EuroFinUse – The Federation of Financial Services Users is hosting an International Conference on ‘The Financial Repression of Savers and Investors’ on 18 October 2013 in Vienna Programme 09:00 – 09:30 Registration – Welcome Coffee 09:30 – 09:45 Welcome Speech Wilhelm Rasinger, President IVA and Jean Berthon, President EuroFinUse 09:45 – 10:05
On September 24, Klaus Regling, Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism, recognized the current legal setup of this mechanism would not allow it to become a “backstop” lender for the EU Single Resolution Fund, which will be set up in 2014 and will directly recapitalize struggling banks. However, answering Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee
European Parliament approved this Thursday, September 12, the EU bank supervision system, which is intended to be the core element for the banking union. The EP seeks thus to establish a "more uniform culture for bank supervision". The system’s transparency and accountability were strengthened and the European Banking Authority was tasked to develop supervisory practices
Guillaume Prache, Managing Director at BETTER FINANCE, was quoted in the Financial Times following his contribution to EFAMA’s report “Building Blocks for Industry Driven Investor Education Initiatives”. Presenting the investors’ perspective on "The fall of financial literacy", Prache suggested that plans to improve financial literacy should include resinstating basic financial mathematics in European curriculums, as
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
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