BdV and BETTER FINANCE once again examine the stability of the main EU insurers This year, the German Association of Insured (BdV) together with BETTER FINANCE and Zielke Research again examined selected European life insurers. The 10 largest life insurance companies from France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands were analysed. There are still considerable
In a late bid to address soaring inflation in the Euro area, the European Central Bank (ECB) increased interest rates for the first time in 11 years in July 2022, raising its main rate to 0 percent after eight years of negative rates, and reaching 0,75% today. Notwithstanding, Eurozone inflation hit a new record high
BETTER FINANCE published a letter accompanying its response to the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) on its draft EU Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). In light of the proposals put forward by EFRAG, BETTER FINANCE would like to draw attention to the overarching themes that will ensure investors receive understandable, comparable, and reliable information which
BETTER FINANCE notes that the gap between users’ information needs and the sustainability information reported by undertakings is growing. Academic research demonstrates however that companies are reporting more often on aims and intentions rather than on actual actions and performance. Besides, there is a significant increase in demand for sustainability reporting information from undertakings which
BETTER FINANCE answer to the European Commission’s consultation to gather evidence for the PSD2 review and to inform its work on open finance. In the light of this informative consultation on open, BETTER FINANCE advocates that consumer data should not be retained beyond what is strictly necessary to provide the service and should then be
Individual, non-professional (“retail”) investors are significantly interested in sustainable investments and by extension rely not only on more data on climate or sustainability-related risks and opportunities, but also on more comparable, and comprehensible data in order to understand the risks and opportunities entities are exposed to. In order to ensure investors receive consistent, comparable, and
On 27 July 2022 BETTER FINANCE wrote to Commissioner McGuinness to stress the importance of individual investors’ access to bias-free advice for the success of the Capital Markets Union and investor protection. In its letter BETTER FINANCE proposes a staggered approach as follows: Harmonising EU investor protection rules across all EU retail investment product sectors
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY What is Alternative/Online Dispute Resolution (ADR/ODR)? Non-judicial procedures through which consumers (for our constituency, “retail” financial services users) can solve disputes with professionals and obtain redress for their rights. These are generally referred to as alternative dispute resolution (ADR) or out-of-court settlement of consumer claims. Cases are (or should be) handled by independent
Individual, non-professional (“retail”) investors are significantly demotivated or hampered from investing cross-border within the EU due to: The widespread de facto double taxation of investment income within the “Single Market” (for example the so-called Belgian-French Tax Treaty to avoid double taxation is in reality organizing the double taxation of Belgian residents holding shares of French-domiciled
From 15 June to 17 June, BETTER FINANCE, the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users, and its Member Organisations gathered in Athens for their General Assembly and International Investors’ Conference, co-organised with Helinas, the Hellenic Investors Association. The meetings in Greece were also the occasion to elect a new Board. BETTER FINANCE is