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
Solvency II review: improving rules for insurers to build a sustainable future.
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Robo-advisors are digital platforms that provide investors with financial advice or investment services based on computer-based technologies using artificial intelligence or algorithms and sometimes take into consideration sustainability preferences.
The European Commission published a legislative proposal for a regulation on European green bonds, which is supposed to become the high quality voluntary European Green Bond Standard. Its intention is to use the potential of the single market for achieving the EU’s climate and environmental goals in a more efficient way.
The initiative by the European Commission aims to improve the EU regulatory framework on company law and corporate governance. It seeks to enable companies to focus on long-term sustainable value creation rather than short-term benefits as well as better align the interests of companies, their shareholders, managers, stakeholders and society. Ths initiative would help companies
It is part of an initiative first mooted in the Commission’s September 2020 Capital Markets Union Action Plan and designed, among other things, to “increase consumer participation in capital markets.” The the level of retail investor participation in EU capital markets remains very low. The strategy is aimed to ease difficulties for retail investors in
Sustainability policies affect all and the same rules should be applicable in order to harmonise interpretations and improve financial services in support of retail investors. In this section you will find position papers which shed more light on multiple climate-oriented and sustainable finance developments. In this section, you will find position papers that shed more
The Briefing Paper by BETTER FINANCE, 2° Investing Initiative and WWF focuses on the Packaged Retail Investment and Insurance-Based Products (PRIIPs) Regulation and provides recommendations for sustainability disclosure. While a legislative review of PRIIPs is planned, we suggest an omnibus regulation that will effectively harmonise product-level disclosures. The briefing elaborates on one of the recommendations
It is very welcome that the Commission prepares both a Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy for July 2021, and an unprecedented, horizontal Retail Investment Strategy for early 2022. This briefing focuses on the retail investment aspects of the Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy and on the sustainability aspects of the Retail Investment Strategy. It does not aim
In a letter to the European Commission’s Directorate General in charge of Financial Stability, Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA) dated 20 June 2020, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) informed that one of their respective Supervisory Boards did not approve the draft level 2 regulatory technical standards (RTS) for the Delegated Regulation on key
Brussels, 31 July 2020 – In a letter to the European Commission’s Directorate General in charge of Financial Stability, Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA) dated 20 June 2020, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) informed that one of their respective Supervisory Boards did not approve the draft level 2 regulatory technical standards (RTS) for
BETTER FINANCE – one of the only two individual user side members of the European Commission’s “High Level Forum on the CMU” – firmly advocates for a Capital Markets Union (CMU) that “Works for people” and focuses on EU citizens as – by far – the largest source of long-term, sustainable funding for the real
On December2, the Federation of European Accountants (FEE) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) held a joint roundtable to discuss the report by Mr Maystadt and his preliminary recommendations regarding the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Of importance in the debate with EU Stakeholders was the question whether the adoption system
EuroFinUse has provided Mr Philippe Maystadt with the views of retail investors on accounting standards, the principles they should contain and the need to count with international account standards that protect the interests of investors.
EuroFinuse agrees with the general recommendation of the Expert Group on the necessity of legal separation between risky financial activities from deposit-taking activities within a banking group. We agree as well that this separation should be aimed at protecting their socially most vital parts, which indeed are deposit-taking and those related to the provision of
[A provisional version of the publication was available in January 2024. The document has been updated to the final March 2024 version] The report by CFA Institute and BETTER FINANCE critically reviews the EU’s listing rules, targeting reforms to improve public market accessibility for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It aims to foster debate amidst
As part of the European Responsible Investment Network (ERIN), BETTER FINANCE has joined forces with ShareAction and other NGOs to launch an EU Elections Manifesto, urging EU policymakers to take bold action on sustainable finance. Within this manifesto, we have outlined our key recommendations for the upcoming European Commission: Accelerate investments in Europe’s transition to
Available data and evidence show significant increases in the trading and investing activity of EU households, sparked by a new wave of young, previously inactive, non-professional investors. Many EU retail investors increased their exposure to listed equities and started to invest via execution-only services (brokerage accounts). Besides flattening the illiquidity curve during the period of
Available data and evidence show significant increases in the trading and investing activity of EU households, sparked by a new wave of young, previously inactive, non-professional investors. Many EU retail investors increased their exposure to listed equities and started to invest via execution-only services (brokerage accounts). Besides flattening the illiquidity curve during the period of
On 3 June 2021 BETTER FINANCE wrote to Commissioner McGuinnes on behalf of the EU citizens who act or could act as individual non-professional (called “retail” in MiFID) investors with regard to the European Commission’s projects on consolidated tape (“CT”) and the impact assessment to be finalized soon. BETTER FINANCE appreciates the firm stand by
Six years after the EU MiFID Directive fragmented the European equity markets, private investors still cannot get consolidated pre- and post-trade data. The solution preferred by the Commission and by the European Parliament seems to be going nowhere. EuroFinUse is very concerned that the EU has and is still losing a lot of time and
Six years after MiFID Directive fragmented the European equity markets, private investors still cannot get consolidated pre- and post-trade data. EuroFinUse is very concerned that the EU has and is still losing a lot of time and has not properly evaluated the economic cost of market fragmentation.
BETTER FINANCE calls for restricting “dark” capital market venues to REAL Large-in-scale (LIS) trades, i.e., of more than €100k each, to really prevent them from dealing with “retail” orders. Current Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) proposals “surreal” and don’t respond to citizens’ questions. A real-time pre-trade Consolidated Tape (CT) of equity order books will put
10 February 2023 | As EU policymakers continue their negotiations on the MiFIR review, BETTER FINANCE is increasingly alarmed that the regulation could severely hurt retail investors, by putting in place a market structure further benefitting dark Systematic Internalisers (SIs). Ignoring the previous plea from BETTER FINANCE and going against the interests of retail investors,
Keynote address by Jella Benner-Heinacher on market structures, “retail” investors, and payments for order flows (PFOF) Thank you for the invitation and congratulations to FESE to organize such an impressive conference in Prague. I would have loved to be personally in this beautiful city of Prague but unfortunately, I can only attend virtually. Nevertheless, I
17 November 2022 – The struggle against conflicts of interests and to deliver an adequate, high level of “retail” investor protection now hinges on the positions of representatives of the EU Member States (Council of the EU). BETTER FINANCE firmly advises the co-legislator not to hamper EU progress and to support the proposal to ban
Member States have until 31 May to actively support transparent, efficient, and accessible equity markets for retail investors and submit their written comments to the French Presidency working on the Compromise Proposal for the review of MIFIR regulation. In order to avoid a poor compromise, national policymakers should put consumer interests first and remember the