Today, December 17, the European Commission adopted its Work Programme 2015 and announced new initiatives, withdrawals or modifications of pending proposals, REFIT actions (fixing EU law) and a list of legislation that becomes applicable law in 2015. When it comes to the withdrawals, only one of those mentioned in a leaked letter from Commissioner
On October 6, Financial Times published an article about how hedge funds’ managers use expenses claims to cover travel by private jet and other luxury items directly through the funds they manage. This relatively short piece of news has sparked a heated debate. The funds have reportedly served to cover inter alia salaries, marketing,
The European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has urged the European Commission to pay more attention to its senior officials quitting their jobs to pursue a career in the private sector – a practice very likely to lead to a conflict of interest. The Ombudsman’s attention was drawn to the “revolving door” issue following complaints by five NGOs.
On August 7, the European Commission launched a public consultation on the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the European Union. IFRS are international accounting standards used by companies in more than 100 countries to prepare their financial statements. The consultation is open to all citizens and organisations willing to give their views on important aspects
As it stands Belgian taxpayers holding French shares are doubly taxed on their dividends. This double taxation is limited by a bilateral agreement between Belgium and France (and other countries), but it exists. Now a decision by the French highest administrative court regarding a case involving a Belgian holding Frenchshares could set a precedent throughout the European Union by challenging the current principles of doubletaxation. This could even have consequences for the budgets of the EU member states, since this free movement of capital could be invoked in similar
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is looking to newly constitute a Consultative Working Group (CWG) for the ESMA Commodity Derivatives Task Force (CDTF) as the two-year-term of the existing CWG has recently expired. Stakeholders have the opportunity to apply to become a member of the CWG by no later than July 6 2014. Please find the
On April 9 the European Commission unveiled its proposals for the review of the Shareholders Rights Directive in order to adopt measures to improve the corporate governance of around 10 000 companies listed on Europe’s stock exchanges. Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier said that the last few years had shown “how short-termism damages European companies and the economy”. A
On March 7, the European Commission announced its plans to hand over the responsibility for executive pay to shareholders, addressing the staggering ratio of worker-executive pay at big banks, often exceeding a ratio of 100 to 1. The announcement comes as the Royal Bank of Scotland will pay out £576 in bonuses although it reported massive losses, as well as the Lloyds Banking Group, which
Daniele Nouy, the Eurozone’s new chief banking regulator, warned that weak banks should be allowed to fail following upcoming ECB’s stress tests. In her first interview since being appointed chief of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, Ms. Nouy signaled that, as part of the EU’s banking system stabilization, it is necessary “to accept that some banks
Rohan Ramchandani, senior currency trader and former head of European spot trading at Citigroup in London, was fired following a global investigation into alleged efforts to manipulate foreign exchange markets. Ramchandani, who was already on leave since October, was also a member of the Bank of England’s foreign exchange joint standing committee’s subgroup for chief dealers, a forum for banks and brokers