For years now the active management of investment fund portfolios has suffered negative criticism with financial headlines relegating the failing practice to the dustbin of history. Following years of persistent failure by the majority of fund managers to outperform the market, the evidence in favour of index investing – also known as “passive” – is
On December 3rd, the Bulgarian Financial Forum, a member organisation of BETTER FINANCE, held an event to discuss “Alternative solutions to the banking crisis”. The conference gathered not only a large number of legal and financial professionals but also a broader public interested in the topic. High-level speakers presented alternatives views to the mainstream narrative
BETTER FINANCE is very sad to inform you about the passing away of François Perrin-Pelletier, who spent the last decades defending French and European savers and individual investors. He co-founded the biggest French savers organisation FAIDER in 2004 and presided over it until 2007. He was also the president of GAIPARE, the French association of
Delegates at the World Pension Summit 2015 gave some insightful answers to the question: “What is the future of European pensions?” Harry Smorenberg, from Smorenberg Corporate Consultancy, holds that harmonization is the key and predicts an increase in cross-border work. With this in mind he calls for more standardized pension solutions around Europe to ease
In an article dismissing the proclaimed, and in some case much-awaited, demise of capitalism, the Economist makes light of the argument that the ‘sharing economy’ is poised to replace the market economy. Not so says Buttonwood. In perfect capitalist style, new business models are merely replacing old ones whilst finding innovative ways to monetize their
Following the 2008 financial crisis, a financial reform package aimed at preventing a recurrent crisis, addressing the so-called“too big to fail” issue and promoting financial stability, was enacted. This week the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act celebrates its fifth anniversary since US President Barack Obama signed it. Although some successes are recognised, the slow process of reform has also been at
According to the figures of the 1st quarter of 2015 recently published by AksjeNorge (“EquityNorway”), a non-profit and independent organisation, the downward trend in the number of private individual shareholders in Norway is finally reversing. And it is interesting to note that figures comparing investment trends from 2010 until 2015 show that although the number of Norwegian women investing
The EU and US regulators failed to harmonise industry rules for derivatives trading on 7 May 2015, as the meeting between Jonathan Hill, European Commissioner Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, and Timothy Massad, chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in Brussels, did not lead to an agreement on the recognition of
New York City’s retirement funds for over 700,000 city employees represent the fourth largest pension system in the United States, totaling nearly $160 billion in assets… and they are being wiped out by the exorbitant fees charged by the Wall Street money managers. An analysis of New York City’s pension funds revealed zero return on
According to a survey carried out by EFAMA –the European Fund and Asset Management Association – of its corporate members, 100% of asset managers already showed support to its idea for a “European Personal Pension” – a proposed cross-border personal pension product. The proposal complements EFAMA’s 2013 recommendation for a European brand of personal