The Bank for International Settlements, the central bank of central banks, has warned that an extremely high global debt ratio across major global economies increases the vulnerability of the financial system to the monetary tightening by the US Federal Reserve (Fed). Clarudio Borio, the bank’s chief economist, said that the warning signs are no longer
Earlier this year, in March, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) reiterated the regulatory requirement for firms to “treat customers fairly” and put the wellbeing of their customers at the heart of how they run their businesses. Apparently the message did not fall on deaf ears since a few weeks later the investment management
Speaking at a financial sector conference in Paris early this week, EU Commissioner for Economic Affairs Pierre Moscovici advanced that an EU Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) could be in place by early 2017. In June, 11 European nations representatives met in Luxembourg to discuss the design and future of the measure. However, disagreements on what
More often than not those individuals or organisations with money to invest call on the services and expertise of a variety of money managers to look after their assets and take care of their securities portfolios. The management of portfolios obviously comes at a cost, usually in the form of fees based on a percentage
Markus Ferber – German EPP Member of the European Parliament and Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs – expounded his views on the Capital Markets Union (CMU), ahead of his intervention at the BETTER FINANCE conference on the topic. Whereas Mr Ferber stresses that it is indeed vital for Europe to
MiFID 1 (Directive 2004/39/EC) introduced a set of principles and rules on best execution, taking into account price, costs, speed, likelihood of execution and settlement, size, nature or any other consideration relevant to the execution of the order. These rules were supplemented by level 2 measures (Article 44 of the Directive 2006/73/EChttp://www.esma.europa.eu/system/files/Dir___73_2006.pdf) detailing the criteria
In its latest Newsletter, Better Markets reflects on Obama’s State of the Union speech of 21st January 2015. The Washington DC based public-interest organization applauds Obama’s resolve to use his veto to prevent attacks to weaken or kill financial reform: As the President recognizes, it is vital to the strength of our nation that financial
On Wednesday November 9 the Council issued a negotiating mandate for the revision of the Directive on Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP II). Focusing on four objectives, this mandate unifies the position of all 28 Member States and gives a green light to negotiations with the parliament. The four objectives of the negotiating mandate
Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union back in June 2014. As with every EU directive, the Member States must now transform it into their national law within a given time frame. MiFID II will apply from January 2017 on. One of the major