Late March the EC published its proposal for cheaper euro transaction costs and fairer currency conversions within the Union. The proposal will considerably reduce fees on transactions, extending the current euro-area regime to non-euro countries, as well as limit currency conversions abroad. While in the past an euro-area consumer could end up transferring a total
10 years following the crippling global effects of the financial crisis, long-standing Icelandic BETTER FINANCE member ISA (the Icelandic Savers Association) recently launched a series of lectures and open meetings on the development of global financial markets. The series will look into the aftermath of the crisis, as well as what has been achieved since
Mr. Octávio Viana, President of BETTER FINANCE`s Portuguese member organization ATM, was confirmed as member to the CFSC Consultative Working Group (CWG) of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). BETTER FINANCE wishes to congratulate Mr. Viana on the appointment, highlighting the important work done by the CFSC CWG on issues related to the Prospectus
Concluding that Contracts for Differences (CFDs) and binary options do indeed represent a real and significant investor protection concern , the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in cooperation with National Competent Authorities (NCAs), agreed to measures prohibiting the marketing, distribution and sale of both products to individual investors. It is the inherent complexity of
Following the much anticipated release of the EC`s Action Plan on Sustainable Finance on the 8th of March, a High-Level Conference on how best to put the plan into practice took place Thursday last week. BETTER FINANCE`s President Jella Benner-Heinacher took her place amongst influential speakers such as French President Macron and former NY mayor
As previously covered by BETTER FINANCE, shareholder activism is experiencing a new spring. As opposed to the aggressive nature of their forefathers, today`s activists put faith in cooperation and dialogue rather than conflict and public battles. While activist investors have traditionally been larger Wall Street heavyweights, it seems that this new emerging era of activism
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)
According to a recent article published in the Financial Times, asset managers should seriously consider a recent proposal by Mercer that would completely overhaul the relationship between asset managers and their clients. Mercer suggested that asset managers should pay investors to run their portfolios and provide performance guarantees instead of earning fees, regardless of the
This morning the EC released: 1. The Proposal for a Regulation on European Crowdfunding Services for Business. It: establishes a one-stop-shop access to the EU market and therefore helps crowdfunding platforms in overcoming the barriers they face operating cross-border; provides tailored rules for European crowdfunding services providers covering both investment-based and lending-based business models; gives
A new report by think-tank New Financial finds that EU capital markets continue to underperform, widening the transatlantic gap with US capital markets. Relative to the size of the economy, most sectors of EU capital markets have shrunk over the past decade – with remnants from the financial crisis still present and recovery moving slowly. With