The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) will analyse the exposure of European pension funds’ to “ESG” factors in next year’s stress test of the sector, a spokeswoman has confirmed. She added that the analysis will involve a qualitative assessment of how occupational pension funds incorporate environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors into
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
Proxy advisers have been mired in controversy due to perceived conflicts of interest and doubts about the adequacy of their resources. They are predicted to remain at the centre of attention, particularly after the launch of the “name-and-shame” register in the United Kingdom, providing details of those companies that failed to attain 80 per cent
This week, on the 19 December, the new rules for cross-border payments have been given a green light by EU, as announced by the European Commission on its Press release. Such an agreement will ensure that consumers and businesses in both euro and non-euro countries would benefit from the same transactions fees between the EA and
On 6 December the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced the new composition of its Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group (SMSG). BETTER FINANCE thanks and congratulates ESMA for improving on the consumer and retail user representation within the SMSG, now at 11, up from 9 in the previous stakeholder group. To read the full
CFA institute has found, that investors were seeking fewer IPO investment opportunities and “could miss out on the returns provided by rapidly growing new businesses whilst they are kept in private hands”. The increasing ability of entrepreneurs to access private capital has encouraged a shift from public market capital-raising, and “much of the value [has
Since the launch of a project by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) to raise awareness of pension scams, there has been a 462% jump in the number of the ScamSmart website visitors. Additionally, over 370 pension holders were warned about an unauthorised firm thanks to the Warning List, an online
For too long now individual investors and savers have been gradually crowded out of equity markets and pushed into frequently under-performing packaged products. To ensure long-term growth it will be crucial to rehabilitate equity investment across the board and ensure a level playing field for all market participants. If the CMU can help reconnect those
BETTER FINANCE welcomes yesterday’s vote of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee amending the Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs) Regulation. BETTER FINANCE has always strongly supported the aim of the PRIIPs Regulation since it is the first – and so far the only – “horizontal” EU set of investor protection rules
Today EU finance ministers are meeting to discuss proposals to give the Eurozone more powerful tools in order to prevent financial crises. One of them, a common scheme to guarantee bank deposits that has been pushed by Brussels, the European Central Bank and southern Europe, still faces fierce resistance from Germany. However, according to diplomats,