Brussels, 4 June 2020 – On 29 April 2020 the heads of European and Member State organisations representing individual shareholders across Europe sent an Open Letter to the European Commission (EC) opposing lobbying attempts led by powerful financial intermediaries to postpone the implementation of the Shareholder Rights Directive II (SRD II). Their call has now been heeded.
After learning in April that certain industry stakeholders were asking for a postponement of the SRD II Implementing Regulation using the Coivd-19 crisis as an excuse, BETTER FINANCE, the European Federation of national member organisations representing individual bond and shareholders, investment fund investors, bank savers, pension fund participants, life insurance policy holders, borrowers and other financial services users in more than 35 countries, including most European Member States, led a coalition of individual investor organisations from all over Europe to warn about the risks of any delay to the implementation of SRD II.