Notes from Europe – Page 2
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Berlin: The German way to supervise the EU Taxonomy
The German financial supervisory authority, BaFin, has chosen its own path to deal with the EU taxonomy – in particular when it comes to nuclear and gas.
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Opinion PiecesNotes from the Nordics: Finland on the frontier
Fear and uncertainty are rattling markets, but financial concerns are dwarfed by the human suffering caused by the war in Ukraine. In Finland, people have particular reason to worry due to the country’s long land border with Russia.
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Opinion PiecesNotes from the Netherlands: Inflation could bolster pension reforms
The Dutch pension agreement, paving the way for a change from a defined benefit to defined contribution-type system, was concluded in the pre-COVID summer of 2019. But it is still waiting to be implemented, with the delay blamed on the protracted negotiations following Dutch parliamentary elections in March 2021.
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Opinion Pieces
Notes from the Nordics: Danish funds keen to invest in green project
Danish pension funds have been at the forefront of discussions on how to achieve the nation’s ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70% from 1990 levels by 2030.
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Opinion PiecesNotes from the Netherlands: It’s the implementation, stupid
The Dutch pensions regulator, DNB, praised pension funds in a recent report for having better structures in place to manage their exposure to climate risk than banks and insurance firms. But as always, the devil is in the detail.
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Opinion PiecesNotes from the Netherlands: Too eager to index
Most Dutch pensioners have been craving indexation ever since the financial crisis in 2008-09. Understandably, patience is running thin, especially now that inflation has reached its highest level since the introduction of the euro.
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Opinion Pieces
Notes from the Netherlands: Truly Paris aligned
A milestone was reached in July when the first Dutch pension fund announced its divestment from fossil fuels. Surprisingly, the fund in question was neither civil service scheme ABP nor healthcare fund PFZW, the two largest Dutch funds, both of which have the ambition to be leaders in sustainable and responsible.
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Opinion Pieces
Notes from the Nordics: GPFG brought into politics
The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) is a phenomenon – the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund owned by a population of just 5.3m, accounting for a sixth of all SWF assets and the owner of 1.5% of all listed equities.
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Opinion PiecesBrussels People: Europe’s conservatives eye Africa
Describing himself as “the most senior elected Brit in Brussels” and speaking ahead of 29 March when he and the UK’s 72 other MEPs were set to relinquish their mandate in the European Parliament, Syed Kamall is keen to speak about matters other than Europe.
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Opinion PiecesFirebrand targets supervision
One of the knottier issues in Brussels at the moment is the future of the European supervisory authorities
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Opinion PiecesBanking on life after politics
At 49, Brian Hayes is young man by political standards. Having started in Irish politics early with his appointment to the Irish Senate in the mid 1990s, Hayes was elected to the Dáil, the lower house, before he was 30, taking a seat for the Fine Gail party.
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Opinion PiecesBrussels People – Lieve Wierinck: Building on Europe’s scientific base
Lieve Wierinck’s main political passion is ensuring the EU takes full practical advantage of Europe’s excellent scientific base
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Opinion PiecesBrussels People: Sven Giegold, MEP
While he derives some satisfaction from advances in green energy and the like, Sven Giegold is unhappy that most global investment can still be classed as environmentally unsustainable.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Brussels: Brussels seeks to bolster secondary market in non-performing loans
Are non-peforming loans an investor’s dream come true? Or do they represent immeasurable risks?
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Brussels: Focus on pension products and supervision ahead of elections
Tensions are rising in Brussels as the EU institutional mandate approaches its end ahead of the Parliamentary elections in May 2019, and the Commission has already ceased issuing new proposals in the absence of legislative time.
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Opinion Pieces
Letter From Brussels: CMU urgency mounts
The race is on to complete the EU’s flagship Capital Markets Union project before the mandates of the Commission and Parliament elapse next year
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from Brussels: Campaign to boost pan-EU distribution of UCITS and AIFs
Another step by Brussels to ease financing to business across the EU comes with measures to facilitate the cross-border distribution of investment funds
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from Brussels: Who cares about our €3.5trn?
PensionsEurope is concerned about a Brexit ‘no deal’ and is calling for negotiators to pay heed to the €3.54trn sector’s interests
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Opinion Pieces
Letter From Brussels: Corporate tax reform in view
Radical upgrades to the EU’s corporate tax base norms have never been so close to fruition
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Opinion Pieces
Letter From Brussels: Default guarantee option dominates debate on PEPP
Europe’s asset management industry is lobbying against any mandatory guaranteed default option in the third-pillar PEPP proposal
