The outlook for European citizens saving money for their pensions is far from encouraging. Although lower inflation rates across the EU slightly improved real returns, current low interest rates (lower still following the latest ECB cut down to 0,05%) combined with heavy fees render pension savings markets extremely vulnerable to even the slightest increase in
Brussels, 25 October 2013 – For the first time Financial Repression was the topic of an international conference organised in Vienna, attended by prominent authorities from the world of finance. Financial Repression is broadly defined as anything Public Authorities do to force money to flow to the governments’ coffers instead of going into the real
On the 29th of April, the Financial Times published an article on the varying quality of advice for European investors, found by the EC`s "Study on the distribution systems of retail investment products". Commenting on the grim picture painted by the study, BETTER FINANCE Managing Director Guillaume Prache stated that: "It is difficult for individual
Whereas the UK was widely considered the leading force of the Capital Market Union (CMU), Theresa May’s speech on (date)… seems to announce serious turbulence ahead. Launched in 2014, the CMU intends to reduce barriers to cross-border investing and promote bond markets instead of bank lending. Theresa May declared that there will be no
Politicians, investor rights groups and asset managers have made an eleventh-hour attempt to convince European officials to amend proposed investment rules over fears they could be “vastly misleading” and a “huge blow to investor protection”. The new rules which are set to come into force next year and are aimed at making investment products safer
The savings management industry does not at all satisfy Europeans concludes the annual survey of the European Commission stating that the investment industry, and particularly services related to pension savings, came last of 32 on the services satisfaction index. BETTER FINANCE confirmed this bad result by reporting that European investment funds have returned 1.2% less
In an article published in the Financial Times on the 15th of November, Guillaume Prache, Managing Director of BETTER FINANCE, was quoted regarding the income money managers are making through securities lending.BlackRock overhauled its securities lending division, making it cheaper for companies to borrow securities. The asset management firm cut the requested amount of collateral,
Carl Rosén, chief executive of the Swedish Shareholders’ Association (SSA) and vice-president of BETTER FINANCE, featured in last Sunday’s Financial Times “Face to Face” section, dedicated to people in the fund management industry. A former investment banker, Carl Rosén and the Swedish organisation caught the financial industry and media’s attention after publicly criticising some of
Known for its role in exposing the abuse by the Cref, the now insolvent organisation for optional pension plans for civil servants, Arcaf, the National Association for Public Employee Pension Savers in France, continues to alert consumers about vulnerabilities at the heart of Corem, the successor to Cref, that were kept hidden from affiliates. Deontofi.com
From Mr Guillaume Prache Sir, The misguided condemnation of shareholder value by Mr Martin Wolf («Opportunist shareholders must embrace commitment», August 26) is based on a profound misunderstanding of what creating shareholder value is about. The financial crisis has understandably motivated decision makers and stakeholders to find out what caused it. Amongst others, the concept of