Founded in 2005, the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) is a coalition of about 200 civil society groups campaigning for lobbying transparency and stronger ethics rules for both lobbyists and those working in the EU institutions. They are seeking a coalition-building and outreach coordinator to further strengthen the ALTER-EU alliance, broaden awareness
EuroFinUse published a position paper on Crowdfunding, a very important emerging trend in financial services. Financial services users, savers and retail investors are not opposed to innovation, particularly with regard to the emergence of Crowdfunding, which could actually dramatically improve the delivery of retail financial services, provided the EU regulators find an adequate user protection
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), prepared by the London-based International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), aim to standardise accounting practices internationally. In order to enhance the development of the single capital market in Europe, IFRS were introduced for consolidated accounts of EU-listed companies in 2005 as a result of a Regulation in 2002. That Regulation is
ESMA, the European Securities and Markets Authority will issue further guidance in March to clear up confusion among exchange traded fund providers regarding upcoming UCITS rules on securities lending, according to the Financial Times. "Esma’s Ucits guidelines, which come into force on February 18, will require asset managers to return all securities lending revenues “net
EuroFinuse comments on the issue, "that some asset managers appear to be engaging in dubious – and potentially illegal – in-house trades to protect funds facing heavy redemptions from having to sell assets at fire-sale prices". Internal cross-trading between funds however, is not illegal. Guillaume Prache, Managing Director of EuroFinuse states in the Financial Times
Many financial services providers already operate across borders in different Member States. Like for other sectors, the case for EU-wide collective redress for financial services is clear and in the interest of EU citizens as retail investors and pension savers. Over the years there have been numerous mis-selling scandals in the financial services industry that
On 28 July 2017, the European financial regulators (ESAs) released their technical advice on the contents of the Key Information Document (KID) for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs) with environmental and social objectives (EOS PRIIPS). Surprisingly the Governance component of the "ESG" (Environmental, Social and Governance) investment approach is excluded. The ESAs confirm
The Managing Director of BETTER FINANCE presented the case of the bail-in of the six top Slovenian banks to the Banking Stakeholder Group of the European Banking Authority (EBA) at a meeting in London on 8 December 2016. The actual implementation of bail-in rules in the case of the Slovenian banks is hitting non-insider retail
On 11 February 2016 BETTER FINANCE sent an open letter to the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA) and to the Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union to request that the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) follow up on its release of the results
BETTER FINANCE shares its first thoughts on the long-waited Green Paper on Building a Capital Markets Union (CMU), published by the European Commission last week. We welcome the initiative and fully agree that “capital markets need to play a larger role in channeling financing to the economy” but our concern lies with the lack of attention