The amount of funds raised through cryptocurrencies is 30 times higher in 2017 than in 2016. This evolution did not escape ESMA’s attention, which is now warning investors of the risk of losing ‘all of their invested capital’ when investing in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). ESMA warns that ICOs are ‘very risky and highly speculative
There is nothing like the aftermath of a double financial crisis to motivate stakeholders to rethink models, concepts and strategies in investments, especially when there are signs that the next crisis could very well be triggered by the finance industry itself (see more here). Dark clouds are building up on the horizon, indicative of the
In November 2015, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) started an investigation into the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) loan of €400mln to Volkswagen in the context of the Dieselgate scandal. While the company is still calling back vehicles (at a slower rate now – see article here) and shareholders have to time and time again put
Applied since 2007, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) constituted the EU regulatory basis for practicing investment services and trading financial instruments within the Common market. This legislative instrument has regulated the markets based on the four principles of integration, transparency, efficiency and fairness. In 2014, the MiFID underwent a revision, resulting in the
Madrid – Today BETTER FINANCE’s Managing Director, Guillaume Prache, addressed the Santander International Banking Conference and called on the industry and regulators for more transparency on performances and fees as well as decent and higher returns for pension savings products: a requisite for EU citizens to get an adequate pension income. In turn, the EU
In line with the Commission’s proposal to introduce a Pan-European Pensions Product to supplement the low pension replacement rate for European citizens (see the BETTER FINANCE Pensions Report 2017), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) proposed a single framework allowing for regular reporting requests on occupational pension funds in EU Member States (see
European and national competent authorities are moving towards adopting more stringent rules on transparency for IORPs, UCITs and life-insurance products, and conducting closer supervision of the activities of private financial institutions. A first move by the European Commission came in the shape of the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD), aimed at ‘increasing transparency of price and
In September 2015, the European Commission (EC) proposed a Regulation on Securitisation, along with the Regulation on Capital Requirements, as part of the Capital Markets Union (CMU) action plan. Under the objective of increasing banks’ lending capacity, the regulation for simple, transparent and standardised (STS) securitisation is meant to ensure that the trade of
BdV – Bund des Versicherten (the German Association of the Insured), the German member of BETTER FINANCE, was interviewed on EU pension regulation and policy by EIOPA’s (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority), Manuela Zweimuller (Head of Policy) and Katja Wuertz (Head of Consumer Protection). From IDD benefits for consumers, to Brexit and its implications,
In a press release on 24 October 2017 the French Financial Markets Supervisor (Autorité des Marchés Financiers, AMF) announced that, in light of the transposition of the new Shareholders Rights Directive (EU 2017/828), it will establish a Working Group to continue research on, and enhance, voting rights for shareholders in listed companies. This decision is