As far as the finance industry is concerned 2017 can safely be called the Year of Cryptocurrency. The popularity of these FinTech products has skyrocketed even overshadowing other important subjects such as the fresh Basel III guidelines or the coming into force of MiFID II. In short, three indicators are representative of the ‘cryptocurrency mania’,
On the day it becomes directly applicable, the long-awaited revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) gives birth to a new and healthier environment for financial services and instruments across the Single Market. Although only 11 out of 28 Member States have implemented the Directive so far, the past two years have been a
The lack of collective redress in Europe remains an issue for the European finance industry, especially from the perspective of investors and shareholders (see BETTER FINANCE paper here). Given that procedural law falls under the exclusive competence of Member States (still), there is no harmonising legislation fostering cross-border class-action lawsuits in Europe. As became apparent
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is seeking two candidates to represent the interests of consumers, as members of its Securities Markets Stakeholders Group (SMSG). The SMSG helps to facilitate consultation between ESMA, its Board of Supervisors and stakeholders on ESMA’s areas of responsibility and provides technical advice on its policy development. This helps to
Characterised by low interest rates for credit and low yields for debt instruments, the past year as well as 2016 were not very fruitful for institutional investors (especially insurers and credit institutions), reason for which professionals who offer financial products have been searching for financial assets with higher returns (see article here). A recent study
The 2017 budget law that approved the creation of a new tax-exempted individual savings account (in Italian, piani individuali di risparmio) has started to payoff for the national economy. The individual savings account (hereafter PIR) provided by Italian asset managers for investments with a maturity period of at least 5 years, are exempted from the
The Greens/EFA Parliamentary Group took a firm position on taxation rules for any future FTA or Brexit deal with the United Kingdom. Following a report released ahead of the December negotiations, the political group argues that one of the issues that must be at the forefront of the deal is the alignment of UK’s fiscal
On 22 November 2017, EIOPA hosted its 7th Annual Conference in Frankfurt. The opening address by EIOPA’s Chair, Gabriel Bernadino, focused on the current challenges the insurance and occupational pensions industry faces. It stressed the four main strategic priorities of EIOPA, addressing technical and regulatory gaps (in short): (i) Maintaining sound regulation in an evolving
In the Single Market, retail investments are lagging behind as EU savers lack understanding of financial products and confidence in investment intermediaries as well as being put off by an overall lack of attractive results from the industry. With this in mind, the European Parliament (EP) has attempted, on several occasions (see here and here),
On November 14th, Advocate General Bobek responded negatively (in the case of Schrems v. Facebook[1]) to the referring court’s question on whether Article 16 of Regulation (EU) 44/2001 should be interpreted as allowing a consumer to also introduce the claims of other consumers (collective redress). The AG added in no uncertain terms that it is not