The European Commission proposed a regulation to establish an EU programme to support two non-profit organisations, Finance Watch and BETTER FINANCE, for the 2017-2020 period. The programme’s overall budget will amount to a maximum of €6 million during that period, with a maximum 60% co-funding rate. Thanks to these EU grants, BETTER FINANCE will be
Boardroom executive pay has been slammed as “rewarding failure” and “unacceptable” following fresh attacks from top City investors on remuneration practices. After a contentious AGM voting season, Legal & General boss Nigel Wilson warned executives are paid “too much”, adding pay levels were “not fit for purpose” and have resulted in “a poor alignment of
In support of its Slovenian member, VZMD, BETTER FINANCE has closely followed the ongoing case of the bail-in of subordinated bondholders in five Slovenian banks (NLB, NKBM, Abanka, Probanka and Factor Banka) to refinance these struggling institutions. In February this year BETTER FINANCE issued a Press Release in support of VZMD’s legal battle to stop
EU leaders met in Brussels yesterday and continued their discussion today on the British reform proposals, the migration crisis but also on their economic views and Bank Breakups. Brussels is worried about the prospect of an actual Brexit but relaxed about the outcome of the summit. British Bankers were at pains to dispel the Franco-German
Since the financial crisis in 2008 several European governments have been looking for new adapted regulations to prevent tax payers from footing the bill for bank bailouts. In consequence, France is considering allowing banks to issue a new type of senior debt under the potential name of “senior junior”, permitting to absorb losses in times
Last week, following leaked minutes of a Council working group, Green MEP Sven Giegold denounced the systematic boycott by Luxemburg and the Netherlands of EU measures aimed at preventing tax dumping. EU Commission president Jean Claude Juncker and Eurogroup chair Jeroen Dijsselbloem, as former prime minister and former finance minister of the respective countries, should
The Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, urges financial institutions to address the dangers of climate change. Particularly he urges insurance companies to help counteract the financial shocks which climate change might trigger. He holds that investors should stress-test the effects of environmental disasters and prepare their portfolios to minimize their contribution to man-made climate
Last week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reached two settlements with Citigroup Inc after two of its affiliates – Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Citigroup Alternative Investments LLC – were charged with failing to enforce policies designed to prevent and detect insider trading and misuse of non-public information and defrauding hedge fund investors
New City Initiative (NCI) and Open Europe reported that European financial regulations including the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) and the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) are hampering growth in the asset management sector. Therefore they urge the European Commission to work on creating a single market for asset management and to
EIOPA published today a Consultation Paper on the creation of a standardised pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP). In its paper, EIOPA put forward a substantial proposal for the creation of the PEPP which is envisaged to be a long-term retirement savings product. It also noted that while it had initially considered the introduction of a passport system to accredit all personal pension