BETTER FINANCE invites you to watch a documentary about the pitfalls of retail investing produced by Sensible Investing TV, an independent Birmingham-based publisher of educational content for the financial sector. The 80-minute movie calls for a radical rethink of the global pensions system and will be released in its full length on November 5. The documentary maps
Early this week, VZMD, the Pan Slovenian Shareholders’ Association and member of BETTER FINANCE, reported alleged malpractices perpetrated against investors by NLB – Slovenia’s largest bank – to a group of international financial institutions who seem to have unwittingly supported the bank in its activities. Following the expropriation of its investors in December 2013, NLB
On August 8, the European Commission published the long-awaited review report on the European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS) and the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) as well as on the mission and organization of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB). The report is included in the review of the functioning of the new supervisory architecture put in place
According to a survey carried out by Ernst & Young (EY), Europe’s retail investors have a lower understanding of investment products than their counterparts in the US and Asia. The survey, covering 42 managers representing 30% of regulated funds, including Europe’s Ucits funds, concludes that this presents a major challenge for managers’ growth aspirations. Michael Fergusson, regulated funds leader at EY,
Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, surprised friend and foe by openly criticising financial capitalism at a conference on inclusive capitalism on May 27th. Mr Carney, like many central bankers that were cornered into bailing out banks, acknowledges that the financial sector bears a large part of the responsibility for the financial
“Asset managers should fund financial education via an independent third party such as a foundation to avoid any perception of conflicts of interests” stated Guillaume Prache, Managing Director at BETTER FINANCE, at the EFAMA Conference on financial education on March 24. Following the conference an article in the Financial Times addressed the issue by asking whether vendors of
The EU proposal to regulate money market funds (MMFs) was postponed to the next European Parliament. The vote was scheduled for last week’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee meeting in Strasboug but it was abandoned following opposition from the right wing. The controversial regulation, proposed last year by the European Commission, was said to potentially
The new Goldman Sachs Macro Research report draws attention to the fact that, despite some fiscal relief, changes in the Polish pension system might entail the risk of reduced bond market liquidity and equity price uncertainty. The plan is now to transfer more than 50% of second-pillar pension fund portfolios to the first pillar and thereby reduce
Today the European Parliament Economic and Monetary (ECON) Committee voted on the European Commission’s proposal for criminal sanctions to tackle the abuse and manipulation of financial markets. From now on Member States will no longer be allowed to turn a blind eye to such behavior, especially the manipulation of benchmarks, and should treat it as
The European Commission proposal on specific requirements regarding statutory audit of public-interest entities, aimed at a higher quality, dynamic and open audit market, is on hold as European member states and the European Parliament failed to reach an agreement over other planned curbs on auditors. This proposal intends to force companies to switch accountants about