BETTER FINANCE welcomes the proposal for the Retail Investment Strategy (RIS) put forward by the European Commission (EC) on 24 May 2023. We fully share the goals that the EC pursues with this initiative ‘rules that are coherent across legal instruments’; ‘adequate protection’‘bias-free advice and fair treatment’; ‘open markets with a variety of competitive and
BETTER FINANCE, the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users, has published a position paper on the European Commission’s Retail Investment Strategy (RIS) proposals. The organisation fully supports the EC’s RIS objectives: consistent rules, enhanced retail investor protection, unbiased advice, competitive financial markets, and transparent and comparable product information. The RIS constitutes a once-in-a-lifetime
Brussels, 13 October 2023 — BETTER FINANCE, the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users, in collaboration with IVA – the Austrian Shareholder Association, is pleased to announce that the International Investors Conference at the Vienna Stock Exchange and Oesterreichische Kontrollbank (OeKB) got off to a great start this morning. Keynote Carmine di Noia, Director
BETTER FINANCE welcomes the European Commission’s WHT FASTER Proposal that has the potential to bring procedural progress in addressing longstanding obstacles to tax recovery for investors dealing with their cross-border investment income. We applaud an EU-wide framework to streamline withholding tax (WHT) refund modalities under common reporting, and support its digitalisation addressing the current hurdle
Retail investors are increasingly concerned about the impact of their investment decisions on society and the environment. In recent years, European Union (EU) institutions have amended the legislation regarding the distribution of retail investment products by investment firms–the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II)–and related delegated legislation and guidelines to define how investment firms
The draft Regulation on ESG ratings proposed by the European Commission in June 2023 aims to establish a framework and tackle structural issues by combating possible conflicts of interests, imposing better transparency in the rating processes, and introducing an authorisation and supervision system for ESG rating providers (for both EU and non-EU entities). Although commendable,
The European Commission has issued the Delegated Act on the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) to enhance transparency in sustainability reporting by companies. However, it faces criticism for weakening key aspects of the initial proposal by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and neglecting vital concerns. Critics
The exposure of retail investors to crypto-assets has increased globally, leading to greater retail investor losses due to financial crime, fraud, money laundering, and under-regulated activities in the crypto-asset market. To address these challenges, BETTER FINANCE welcomes the policy recommendations for crypto and digital asset markets proposed by IOSCO. These recommendations aim to ensure a
BETTER FINANCE expresses concern over Deutsche Bank’s disclosure of missing Russian shares. The bank recently revealed a shortfall in the shares underlying depositary receipts (DRs), further increasing the challenges for European investors seeking to recover their investments in Russian listed companies, especially individual non-professional ones. DRs are used in international stock trading as a means
BETTER FINANCE supports the newly suggested mandatory social indicators under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which aim to measure principal adverse impacts (PAI). It is crucial for these indicators to align with the current Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the associated European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) to ensure consistency. The implementation of these