Finance and Monetary Affairs in the EU

Latest news on economic and monetary affairs in the European Union.

Access to finance — 28 July 2012, 12:18 CET

An overview of the sources of funding available to SMEs in Sweden.

Access to finance — 26 July 2012, 13:08 CET

An overview of the sources of finance available to SMEs in Spain.

Libor scandal: Amendments to proposed Market Abuse legislation to fight rate-fixing — 25 July 2012, 13:17 CET

The European Commission has presented amendments to its October 2011 Proposals for a Regulation on Market Abuse and for a Directive on Criminal Sanctions for Market Abuse. In the recent LIBOR scandal, serious concerns have been raised about false submissions of banks' estimated interbank lending rates. Any actual or attempted manipulation of such key benchmarks can have a serious impact on market integrity, and could result in significant losses to consumers and investors, or distort the real economy.

Access to finance — 17 July 2012, 23:20 CET

In Slovakia, there is a wide range of programmes, funds and loans available for the support of enterprise, which may be divided into public sector financial instruments and private sector financial instruments.

Proposal to protect financial interests of the EU — 11 July 2012, 23:24 CET

Misuse of EU funds for criminal purposes puts the EU's objectives of generating jobs and growth and improving living conditions at stake. With public finances under pressure throughout the EU, every euro counts. The European Commission, has therefore proposed new rules today to fight fraud against the EU budget by means of criminal law to better safeguard taxpayers' money. The Directive creates a more harmonised framework for prosecuting and punishing crimes involving the EU budget so that criminals no longer exploit differences between national legal systems. The Directive provides for common definitions of offences against the EU budget and for minimum sanctions, including imprisonment in serious cases, and for a common level playing field for periods within which it is possible to investigate and prosecute offences (ie. statutes of limitation). This, says the Commission, will help to deter fraudsters, provide for more effective legal action at national level and make it easier to recover lost funds.

Access to finance — 11 July 2012, 19:42 CET

An overview of the sources of finance available to SMEs in Portugal.

Access to finance — 10 July 2012, 11:48 CET

A system of guarantee funds and loan funds exists in Poland. The Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP) also fulfills an important role implementing operational programmes and is an element of support for enterprises carrying out innovative ventures.

Access to finance — 05 July 2012, 21:14 CET

There are several paths to obtaining secure finance for a business in the Netherlands. The Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel - KvK) provides an overview of these.

Consumer protection in financial services - Undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) – improved requirements for depositaries and fund managers — 05 July 2012, 12:30 CET

The European Commission has presented a legislative package that raises standards in financial services and removes loopholes for the benefit of consumers. Specifically, the package proposes new, consumer-friendly standards for information about investments, raises standards for advice, and tightens certain rules on investment funds to ensure their safety. The original UCITS Directive created the internal market for investment funds in Europe. The current EU legislation for investment funds (the UCITS Directive) has been the basis for an integrated market facilitating the cross-border offer of collective investment funds. Managing almost €6 trillion in assets2, UCITS have proved successful and are widely used by European retail investors. UCITS are also regularly sold to investors outside the EU where they are valued due to their high level of investor protection. The Commission's proposed amendments to the current UCITS rules are based on the experience from the financial crisis, so as to continue to ensure the safety of investors and the integrity of the market. In particular, the proposal will ensure that the UCITS brand remains trustworthy by ensuring that the depositary's (the asset-keeping entity) duties and liability are clear and uniform across the EU3. Today's proposal addresses three areas: a precise definition of the tasks and liabilities of all depositaries acting on behalf of a UCITS fund; clear rules on the remuneration of UCITS managers: the way they are remunerated should not encourage excessive risk-taking. Remuneration policy will be better linked with the long-term interest of investors and the achievement of the investment objectives of the UCITS; and a common approach to how core breaches of the UCITS legal framework are sanctioned, introducing common standards on the levels of administrative fines so as to ensure they always exceed potential benefits derived from the violation of provisions.

Consumer protection in financial services - Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD) Revision — 05 July 2012, 12:27 CET

The European Commission has presented a legislative package that raises standards in financial services and removes loopholes for the benefit of consumers. Specifically, the package proposes new, consumer-friendly standards for information about investments, raises standards for advice, and tightens certain rules on investment funds to ensure their safety. The Commission is proposing a revision of the IMD, which currently regulates selling practices for all insurance products, from general insurance products such as motor and household insurance to those containing investment elements. Consumers are often not aware of the risks associated with the purchase of insurance cover. Whilst accurate professional advice is crucial for insurance sales, recent surveys1 show that more than 70% of insurance products are sold without appropriate advice. The current EU legislation does not deal in detail with the sale of insurance products, rules differ across Member States, and apply solely to intermediaries. The goal of the Commission's proposal is to upgrade consumer protection in the insurance sector by creating common standards across insurance sales and ensuring proper advice. It will do so by improving transparency and establishing a level playing field for insurance sales by intermediaries and sales by insurance undertakings. To achieve this, the following changes are proposed: The same level of consumer protection will apply, regardless of the channel through which consumers purchase an insurance product. Whether a consumer purchases a product directly from an insurance undertaking or indirectly from an intermediary (e.g. an agent or a broker), the consumer will receive the same level of protection. This does not exist today as the current IMD only covers sales provided by intermediaries. Consumers will be provided in advance with clear information about the professional status of the person selling the insurance product. Rules will be introduced to address more effectively the risks of conflict of interest, including disclosure of the remuneration received by sellers of insurance products. Insurance product sales will have to be accompanied by honest, professional advice. It will be easier for intermediaries to operate cross-border, thus promoting the emergence of a real internal market in insurance services.

Consumer protection in financial services - Packaged retail investment products (PRIPS) — 05 July 2012, 12:23 CET

The European Commission has presented a legislative package that raises standards in financial services and removes loopholes for the benefit of consumers. Specifically, the package proposes new, consumer-friendly standards for information about investments, raises standards for advice, and tightens certain rules on investment funds to ensure their safety. The Commission's PRIPS proposal improves the quality of information that is provided to consumers when considering investments. Investment products are complex and it can be difficult to compare them or fully grasp the risks involved. The consequences of taking unexpected risks and facing consequent losses can be devastating for consumers, given that investments often form the backbone of a consumer's life savings. Given an EU retail investment market of up to 10 trillion euro, buying wrong or unsuitable products can quickly become a major problem. The Commission proposal aims to inform consumers in a format easy to understand by introducing a new, innovative standard for product information, one that is short and plain-speaking, and thus far more consumer-friendly. This document is called the 'Key Information Document' (KID). The proposal foresees that every manufacturer of investment products (e.g. investment fund managers, insurers, banks) will have to produce such a document for each investment product. Each KID will provide information on the product's main features, as well as the risks and costs associated with the investment in that product. Information on risks will be as straight-forward and comparable as possible, without over-simplifying often complex products. The KID will make clear to every consumer whether or not they could lose money with a certain product and how complex the product is. The KIDs will follow a common standard as regards structure, content, and presentation. In this way, consumers will be able to use the document to compare different investment products and ultimately choose the product that best suits their needs. The products for which a KID will be required include all types of investment funds, insurance-based investments and retail structured products, in addition to private pensions.

Packaged Retail Investment Products — 05 July 2012, 12:06 CET

The retail investment market is largely dominated by “packaged retail investment products”. These provide retail investors with easy access to financial markets, but can be complex for investors to understand. Those selling these products can also face conflicts of interest since they are often remunerated by the product manufacturers rather than directly by the retail investors. A complex patchwork of regulation has grown up to address these risks, and inconsistencies and gaps in the patchwork have raised concerns as to the overall effectiveness of the regulatory regime, both in relation to its capacity to protect investors and its ability to ensure the markets work efficiently. These concerns have been further heightened by the impact of the financial crisis.

European Parliament basic bank account vote - a life-belt for millions of consumers — 04 July 2012, 18:47 CET

The European Parliament today voted for binding European rules to make basic payment accounts available to all EU consumers. These should offer most basic payment functions, be free of charge or reasonably priced and open to all existing and new bank customers.

Basic banking services for all - guide — 04 July 2012, 18:45 CET

Basic banking services should be a legal right for the 10 per cent of EU citizens who currently have none, including homeless people, people on very low incomes, students, and people with no credit record and expatriate workers, the European Parliament said on 4 July. MEPs called on the European Commission to table legislation by January 2013 to tackle this financial exclusion.

Access to finance — 03 July 2012, 12:08 CET

An overview of the sources of finance available to SMEs in Malta.

Access to finance — 02 July 2012, 21:33 CET

Information about the sources of finance available to SMEs in Luxembourg.

Access to finance — 02 July 2012, 12:06 CET

The Law on Small and Medium Size Business Development of the Republic of Lithuania that came into force on 1 January 2008 defines the types of small and medium size businesses, the forms of state aid available to them and other important relevant provisions.

Setting up a business in Lithuania — 02 July 2012, 11:52 CET

An overview of the process of starting a new business in Lithuania.

Tackling tax fraud and evasion in the EU - guide — 27 June 2012, 20:22 CET

Minimum sanctions for tax crimes, a cross-border tax identification number, an EU tax-payer's charter and stronger common measures against tax havens. These are some of the concrete ideas that the European Commission has put forward today to improve the fight against tax fraud and evasion in the EU. Taking a holistic approach, the EC Communication looks at ways to strengthen current measures and sets out possible new initiatives for eliminating fraud and evasion in Europe.

Access to finance — 26 June 2012, 12:43 CET

During economic growth in Latvia the most popular method of financing was bank loans. After Latvia joined the European Union businesses actively applied for EU funding. The Ministry of Economics is in charge of defining and coordinating government assistance policy for businesses.

Access to finance — 22 June 2012, 13:30 CET

An overview of the sources of finance available to SMEs in Italy.

Access to finance — 22 June 2012, 00:08 CET

There are various sources of funding, support and advice available in Ireland for business owners from a variety of Irish bodies.

Multiannual financial framework 2014-2020 — 19 June 2012, 11:41 CET

The multiannual financial framework (MFF, formerly ‘financial perspectives’) is a spending plan that translates the EU priorities into financial terms. It is not a seven-year budget, but the basis for the annual budgetary exercise; it limits expenditure over a fixed period and defines the maximum amounts available for each major category of spending. It therefore provides a political as well as budgetary framework for focusing resources and investments where needed. The current MFF period started in 2007 and will end in 2013. To put in place reforms and start implementation of the new programmes on time, the MFF should be adopted before the end of 2012.

Access to finance — 15 June 2012, 17:00 CET

Information about the sources of finance available to SMEs in Greece.

Better governance for the Single Market - guide — 14 June 2012, 16:44 CET

The European Commission is proposing to focus efforts on sectors with the largest growth potential. In 2012-2013, the sectors identified are services and network industries. In these areas, the Commission calls on EU Member States to commit to zero tolerance for late and incorrect transposition of Directives. The Commission, for its part, says it will provide enhanced transposition assistance in order to smooth out potential problems. In case of infringements, procedures should take no more than 18 months on average (currently 25.5 months) and Member States should comply with Court rulings within 12 months. To make the Single Market work more effectively, the Commission recommends making better use of IT tools to empower citizens and businesses. It calls on Member States to strengthen problem-solving tools and set up Single Market Centres to better monitor how Single Market rules work.