A recent conference on the role of the asset management was held at the European Parliament. Politicians and consumer rights groups offered analysis on the added value active managed funds offer investors. Sven Giegold, a Green MEP, suggested that asset management companies have over charged investors and failed to offer investors value. The consensus of
It has been a rocky relationship but banks are falling back in love with their fund management arms. The idea would have been unthinkable five years ago, when many believed it was a case of when, not if, investment banks would look to sell off their divisions. After the financial crisis, banks including Barclays, Rabobank
The European Union’s securities regulator is looking at what action to take after finding that up to 15 percent of actively managed funds may be misleading investors by covertly tracking a stock index. Indeed consumers have long suspected some of the funds that charge them higher fees to scour the market for the best picks
In the current low interest environment, life insurance remains the better option for French long–term or pension savers (if invested in euros), with returns (on average around 2,5% gross in 2014) superior to other products. Still, to determine the real return, costs, taxes and inflation need to be taken into account. According to the study
Morningstar, the investment research provider, put the finger on the weak spot. Its latest findings on the UK fund market show that the number of "closet tracker" funds that charge high fees for active management – while in reality they simply follow an index – has more than doubled in the UK in the last 12 months. Quoted in last Sunday’s edition
In a 2013 article, BETTER FINANCE help Rolling Stone magazine to prove its point on price-fixing scandals and the conspiracy theories which seem to believe "the world’s largest banks may be fixing the prices of, well, just about everything". According to the publication, "the Illuminati were amateurs. The second huge financial scandal of the year reveals
A recent article in Shares magazine drew attention to BETTER FINANCE’s preoccupation with ESMA’s failure to recognise the mounting losses hitting European savers and investors. Our concerns were noted by Tom Sieber who stressed that "investors deserve better". Please find the article here and our press release here.
Following a recent position paper by EuroFinUse on Philippe Maystadt’s Draft Report on IFRS Standards, an article appeared today 9 October in Accountancy Age. The article points out to the fact that the EP’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) has concerns regarding the funding arrangements for the IASB and Efrag. MEP’s object to the
Morningstar, the American investment research provider, announced that it will launch environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores for global mutual and exchange-trades through Morningstar Data feeds later this year and on its major software platforms in 2016. The ESG scores will be based on ratings from Sustainalytics, a provider of ESG and corporate governance ratings
Volkswagen’s invoice for damages seems to keep growing… After the US, where the carmaker will pay consumers $ 24 billion in total, the French authorities could now fine the German carmaker up to € 19.73 billion (10% of its average turnover). In October 2015, the French authorities (The Central Office against Attacks on the