Yesterday’s General Assembly of Volkswagen AG delivered the expected results, despite heated discussion. This also applied to the resolution introduced by DSW for an independent special audit. DSW president Ulrich Hocker stated that, although they expected that the resolution would not obtain a majority vote, DSW remains convinced that an independent special audit should be
Members of the European Parliament are set to vote on a highly critical review of the performance of the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS). The Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) approved a draft of the report at a sitting on 27 April. The motion will now go forward to a plenary sitting
Active funds in Europe focused on Dutch equities have the worst record for underperforming their benchmarks, with 100% of them seeing losses against their reference indices over a five-year period. 97% of active equity funds focusing on Dutch equities failed to beat their benchmarks over ten years, and 93% failed over three years. For the
The underrepresentation of women is common in senior positions at financial firms small and large alike. This might come from the legacy of what has not only been a male dominated society, but it probably also reflects an industry that is particularly resistant to change. Moreover, there are so few women in senior positions in
Based on the famous Agatha Christie scenario, this tale takes place in Brussels at the heart of the Financial Institutions instead of the Orient Express. The story stems from a European regulatory initiative to neutralize the banks ‘at risk’ during a financial crisis and avoid a repeat of 2008. In 2014, during Michel Barnier’s (European
A recent study by S&P Dow Jones Indices once again illustrates that active managers have trouble beating the indexes, especially over the long term. There seems to be no end in sight to the debate between advocates of active investing and those promoting a passive strategy, with the former defending their ability to deviate from
BETTER FINANCE published its response to the EIOPA Consultation on the creation of a standardised Pan-European Personal Pension product (PEPP). With pensions and investments being ranked as the worst consumer market, BETTER FINANCE believes it is critical that the design of the PEPP focuses first and foremost on regaining the trust of EU citizens as pension savers.
On 30 September 2015, BETTER FINANCE will launch and present the findings of the latest edition of its report on Pension Savings during a press conference to be held at the Brussels Press Club at 16h30. The press conference and presentation will be followed by a light cocktail reception. Preliminary Programme 16.15 – 16.30
Democracy International, ALTER-EU, Corporate Europe Observatory and other civil society organisations have persistently been reporting on the new rules that entered into force in November 2014 stipulating that lobby meetings involving European Commission officials must be reported. The new rules are aimed at improving the transparency of EU decision making. To this end, the Commission
The Financial Times reports that investors fear that the new accounting rules proposed by European regulators might mask the onset of another credit crisis. Under the new rules, financial institutions would be required to second guess whether the loans that they originated could default. As this is very similar to what happened during the recent