EU citizens as pension savers and individual investors are, by their very nature, strong supporters of ‘sustainable finance’: they are parents and citizens who want to leave a greener and better planet for their children, whose main saving goals – such as retirement, housing and transmission of wealth – are long-term oriented and need a
With work to complete the Capital Markets Union (CMU) underway, reforms with regards to the functioning of the European System of Financial Supervisors (ESFS) were welcomed by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) during its plenary session in February. By increasing the competencies and improving the governance and funding of the ESFS bodies –
Following repeated requests by BETTER FINANCE, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched an investigation in 2015 into the practice of Closet Indexing and found that investor detriment was potentially very significant, with up to 15 % of the UCITs funds it selected potentially falsely active. However, since ESMA never disclosed the funds that
The EC announced their nomination of Mr Boštjan Jazbec as a member to the Single Resolution Board (SRB) in a press release on Wednesday 14th of February. Though Mr Jazbec has proven experience with monetary policy issues, for instance as the Governor of the Bank of Slovenia, critics cite his involvement in the Slovenian “institutional
After a confusing few weeks, Monday`s Eurogroup meeting announced that Spain`s Economy Minister Luis de Guindos is set to be the new vice-president of the European Central Bank’s Executive Board (ECB EB). Following a face-off with Irish central banker Phillip Lane and intense lobbying by Spanish PM Rajoy, Mr Lane`s pull-out of the race on
An ageing population is putting pressure on European pensions systems. There is an increasing demand for a more sustainable EU-wide pensions system, and in order to meet it a regulatory overhaul is underway in the shape of the Pan- European Personal Pension Product (PEPP). While the EC has acknowledged the importance of tax relief with
On the 14th of November ESMA launched the Interactive Single Rulebook (ISRB). ISRB is a new service for market participants and interested shareholders across the EU, with the aim of facilitating a consistent application of the EU Single Rulebook in the securities markets area. For the launch, the UCITS Directive was picked to serve as the
Last week, the European Commission published seven Notices to stakeholders concerning the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom and EU rules in the field of banking and finance, to prepare for, and soften, the upcoming shock on March 30th, 2019. Among them, professionals in the asset management sector have been warned that after the Article 50
2017 was one of the busiest years for shareholder activism, with more than twice the amount spent on campaigns in 2016. As the nature and scope of shareholder activism are undergoing dramatic changes, the negative connotations that accompanied shareholder activism in the 1980s could be a thing of the past. A decline in the aggressive
Amidst the recent plunge of the value of popular cryptocurrencies, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) issued a warning on Monday the 12th of February on the risks of buying and holding Virtual Currencies (VCs). The ESAs, ESMA, EBA and EIOPA, cite their growing concern with consumers buying and holding VCs unaware of the high levels