Following criticism by Scandinavia’s financial industry of the European Banking Authority’s proposal for reporting requirement for capital buffers, backed by the European Banking Federation in Brussels, the European Commission decided to delay the scheduled plans for one month. Bankers’ associations in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland are urging the Commission to reject this set of

Two weeks to go to the EuroFinUse and IVA International Conference in Vienna on Financial Repression and yet another example of financial repression appears in the news. On 4 September Bloomberg announced that Poland will take over and cancel government bonds held by its privately managed pension funds as part of a system revamp in

Founded in 2005, the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) is a coalition of about 200 civil society groups campaigning for lobbying transparency and stronger ethics rules for both lobbyists and those working in the EU institutions. They are seeking a coalition-building and outreach coordinator to further strengthen the ALTER-EU alliance, broaden awareness

EuroFinUse published a position paper on Crowdfunding, a very important emerging trend in financial services. Financial services users, savers and retail investors are not opposed to innovation, particularly with regard to the emergence of Crowdfunding, which could actually dramatically improve the delivery of retail financial services, provided the EU regulators find an adequate user protection

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), prepared by the London-based International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), aim to standardise accounting practices internationally. In order to enhance the development of the single capital market in Europe, IFRS were introduced for consolidated accounts of EU-listed companies in 2005 as a result of a Regulation in 2002. That Regulation is

ESMA, the European Securities and Markets Authority will issue further guidance in March to clear up confusion among exchange traded fund providers regarding upcoming UCITS rules on securities lending, according to the Financial Times. "Esma’s Ucits guidelines, which come into force on February 18, will require asset managers to return all securities lending revenues “net

EuroFinuse comments on the issue, "that some asset managers appear to be engaging in dubious – and potentially illegal – in-house trades to protect funds facing heavy redemptions from having to sell assets at fire-sale prices". Internal cross-trading between funds however, is not illegal. Guillaume Prache, Managing Director of EuroFinuse states in the Financial Times

Many financial services providers already operate across borders in different Member States. Like for other sectors, the case for EU-wide collective redress for financial services is clear and in the interest of EU citizens as retail investors and pension savers. Over the years there have been numerous mis-selling scandals in the financial services industry that

On 28 July 2017, the European financial regulators (ESAs) released their technical advice on the contents of the Key Information Document (KID) for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs) with environmental and social objectives (EOS PRIIPS). Surprisingly the Governance component of the "ESG" (Environmental, Social and Governance) investment approach is excluded. The ESAs confirm

The Managing Director of BETTER FINANCE presented the case of the bail-in of the six top Slovenian banks to the Banking Stakeholder Group of the European Banking Authority (EBA) at a meeting in London on 8 December 2016. The actual implementation of bail-in rules in the case of the Slovenian banks is hitting non-insider retail