This research paper is part of BETTER FINANCE’s #FundResearch project, an umbrella research activity aimed at providing qualitative and quantitative assessments of the EU market for “retail” investment funds, focusing on Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs). This paper looks into the practice of securities lending as an
BETTER FINANCE welcomes the setting of mandatory criteria for the Ecolabel. The issue with any point system is that it may reveal gaps in correctly weighting the criteria for awarding points depending on certain circumstances. Therefore, we support the creation of an ecolabel with mandatory requirements. The mandatory (pass/ fail system) provides a stronger market
At BETTER FINANCE, we closely monitor various Member States’ legal frameworks regarding the rights of individual investors and minority shareholders. We firmly believe that among the most important rights of minority shareholders one has to include the right to organise collectively and the right to seek professional assistance. Such rights are often exercised through the
At the beginning of the week, BETTER FINANCE and its Member Organisations gathered in Bucharest, Romania, to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users and elect its new board and president. BETTER FINANCE is very pleased to announce that it’s new Board elected Axel Kleinlein, from the German
As shown by independent research into the real net returns of European pension savings carried out by BETTER FINANCE, pension savings products too often significantly underperform capital markets, and even sometimes destroy the real (after inflation) value of pension savings over the long-term due mostly to high fees and commissions. This, in turn, is also
BETTER FINANCE welcomes the reform of the European System of Financial Supervision, helping the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pension Authority (EIOPA), and the European Markets and Securities Authority (ESMA) to enhance their capacity to take consumer protection of EU Citizens as Savers and Investors seriously.
BETTER FINANCE is honoured to announce the establishment of the BETTER FINANCE Scientific Committee to further support and strengthen its research activities. The Scientific Committee consists of highly skilled and experienced independent academics who will help us to deliver high-quality research for financial services users, other stakeholders and policy makers.
BETTER FINANCE welcomes the European Commission’s report on standardised presentation of the remuneration and stresses the importance of these guidelines to provide a clear and understandable remuneration. We believe that despite the increasingly complex nature of compensation systems across Europe, they can still be explained in a very readable way, and we, therefore, provide our
BETTER FINANCE asks EU Politicians about their Key Priorities for the Next Five Years Press Release – Next May nearly 450 million Europeans across the EU will be called to vote in the European parliamentary elections. The European Union faces many challenges on multiple fronts and it’s important to ensure that European savers and investors
A strong European CMU requires the trust of citizens as individual investors, policy holders, pension savers and other savers. And defusing the pensions time bomb requires positive and decent real long term returns to pension savers. Those can only be reached by increasing the attractiveness of the EU capital markets to the benefit of all