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Finance Watch is a new European organisation created to represent the public interest in the reform of financial regulation.



The new non-profit organisation aims to become a counter-weight to lobbying bodies funded by the financial industry. It will operate through a dedicated staff of former financial professionals and will interact extensively with its members, which represent a broad cross-section of society in countries throughout Europe.



Finance Watch elected its first board, chairperson and secretary general at its inaugural Annual General Meeting in Brussels on 30 June.



UNI Europa is a founding member of Finance Watch and a member of the Board.



Regional Secretary Oliver Röthig said: "There is a huge need for an organisation like Finance Watch. The finance industry has endless resources to influence EU policies in the way that suits the companies. We must ensure that there is a strong voice to counter-balance this approach and work for financial regulation that is to the benefit of employees, consumers and the economy at large".



The AGM appointed former MEP Ieke Van den Burg as chairperson, and BEUC Director General Monique Goyens as vice-chair. Thierry Philipponnat was appointed General Secretary of the organisation.



Ieke van den Burg underlined the special position of Finance Watch in the EU decision-making community: “We are convinced that there is a strong appetite among policy makers for counter-expertise from civil society. Finance Watch should be able to open doors as representatives of a different perspective. The financial industry may have the money, but we have the sympathy.”



As an independently funded, non-profit organisation, Finance Watch is seeking to raise around €1m in funding from philanthropic organisations and individuals in Europe and a similar amount in seed funding from the European Commission. All funding is to be scrutinised by the body’s ethics committee to ensure complete independence from industry interests and will be published online.



Finance Watch will seek to restore the link between finance and the economy, to push back the financial industry’s reliance on public support and to promote market transparency.



The meeting debated Finance Watch’s initial lobbying priorities, which are likely to include European legislative initiatives CRD IV and the MiFID review, among others.



Finance Watch was created in response to last year’s “Call for a Finance Watch” from Members of the European Parliament in Brussels who were inundated with lobbying from the financial industry. It will act as a counter-lobbying force to improve the visibility of civil society interests to financial services policy makers.



“The debate over financial regulation should take into account the public interest as well as private interests,” said Philipponnat.



What happens next?



Finance Watch will use the summer to appoint a small, dedicated staff including legal and technical experts and professional lobbyists, based initially in Brussels and London.



After the summer it will start its research and advocacy work, including direct lobbying of legislators and regulators, press and media communication.



Financial journalists will be encouraged to come to Finance Watch as a source of information and of credible, alternative commentary about the reform of European financial regulation.



Member organisations



The full list of organisational and individual qualified members is available online at www.finance-watch.org where you can also find photos from the meeting http://www.mplusw.eu/downloads/fw/photofinancewatch.zip