News

Several of the regulatory initiatives coming from the Commission are direct responses to the demands outlined in the UNI-Europa Finance statement. Transparency, supervision, capital adequacy, executive pay and regulation of Credit Rating Agencies are among the top issues addressed directly by regulatory proposals or the setting up of high-level working groups.



While executive pay is a high priority in the current review of the regulatory system, no attention is paid to bonus systems for employees at lower level and the dilemma of sales and advice. However, the Commission expressed interest and comprehension for the concerns regarding these issues, and suggested to have it on the agenda for the next meeting.



The Commission assessed its approach to be much in line with that of UNI-Europa Finance. It furthermore agreed in the importance of a bottom-up view on financial regulation and will have a careful look at the monitoring proposal from UNI-Europa Finance on establishing an early warning system.



Though the Commission thus deals with several important points among the 13 regulatory demands, some points are not expected to be addressed currently. This concerns Pension Funds and Hedge Funds, though hedge funds are expected to be more active in 2009. Three points will be addressed but to a lesser extent, namely Private Equity, Leveraged Buy-outs and Taxation (Tax Havens).



The Commission will present a new policy document around March or April 2009 on the further steps to be taken. UNI-Europa is invited to an informal consultation meeting before this to comment on the content.



The meeting was held on 17 November in Brussels and gathered 22 participants. The next regular consultation meeting will be held around April 2009.



A follow-up to the briefing note from the meeting - and from other meetings - is available here



The 13 demands, the monitoring proposal and other statements from UNI Europa Finance can be downloaded here



The presentations made by the Commission and by UNI-Europa Finance can be downloaded here