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Editorial - January 2021
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Simon Colboc FEPI Secretary General
The Savings Revolution
Household financial savings are making headlines today. This is hardly surprising, given that everything seems to revolve around these savings, from the financing of pensions to the development of a more sustainable economy, the very survival of old Europe and our ability to resist unbridled financial capitalism...
Whichever way you look at it, household savings, which are already very high in Europe today, are set to grow further. The ageing population, which is undermining pension systems (whether the pay-as-you-go pensions, dear to the heart of the French or Italians, or the funded pension schemes developed in other countries such as the UK or the Netherlands), is pushing households to increase their savings to protect themselves in the face of uncertainty.
At the same time, pension reforms already under way or still under discussion are pointing to longer working lives, and it is precisely in the late phase of their working lives that households save the most.
Finally, shorter-term uncertainties, such as the COVID-19 crisis, are pushing households to further increase precautionary savings, both for their own short-term needs and to prepare for future tax hikes when the cost of stimulus packages will have to be paid.
All in all, we are seeing a growth in household financial savings, and these savings are being held for longer and longer: the holding period of a life insurance policy in France already exceeds the duration of the average marriage...
In the face of this pressing consumer demand, the industry's response is not (or no longer) self-evident. Indeed, we are witnessing the end of traditional endowment products. For decades, savers were able to rely on tax-advantaged products, which offered reasonable returns and guaranteed capital; these products in turn directed their savings towards Treasury Bonds, helping to finance the State budget. And providers (insurers) made a nice profit in the middle without taking much risk.
Interest rates have fallen steadily over the last twenty-five years, as we all know. Throughout this period, the steady decrease in rates has fuelled regular capital gains on life insurance funds, contributing to the good performance of these financial products.
Today, with these rates being very low, traditional life insurance contracts no longer provide any return to savers, who see the value of their savings fall, after fees and inflation, and realise that they are no longer protected in the manner they thought they were.
For its part, the State can access financial markets directly, raising funds at a low cost and having less need to tap into household savings.
Insurers are caught between falling rates and capital guarantees. For fifteen years they have been looking for a product that can replace euro-based funds, but no financial innovation has been or will be able to offer both returns and capital guarantees. This was a historical anomaly, driven by the convergence of rates and the long period of regular yield reduction across Europe, but it seems to have reached its natural limits.
Asset Managers also need to reinvent their offering, with less focus on ‘performance’ and more on building solutions tailored to the needs of savers and investors, in terms of time horizon and risk profile.
Today, savers must regain control of their savings, and in particular set themselves the risk/return ratio that suits them, according to their plans, their attitude towards risk and their investment horizon. Indeed, there is a difference between investing for a long period of time with solid reserves and investing for a short period of time when one has a vital need to access one's funds at a moment’s notice.
In order to regain control, savers must be able to rely on their advisors, whether independent or within banks and insurance companies. These advisors can no longer simply 'push' their products with tax arguments - there is no ‘magic’ answer any more, and clients must be able to make their own choices.
Taking refuge in a technocratic expertise could discourage many clients from making the necessary decisions, and would be likely to put the advisor (or his network) in a very delicate situation on the day that this expertise fails, which will inevitably happen in an area as complex and unstable as the financial markets.
The key for advisors will be to succeed in engaging their clients in a genuine dialogue around their needs, their projects, their time horizon, and their perception of risk, to enable them to make their own decisions in full knowledge of the facts.
And to do this, advisors must be able to rely on systems that support them in their mission of advising customers, not robots that would take their place, but proper tools at the service of their profession.
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Editorial - December 2020
Paul Stanfield FECIF Secretary General
Trust, Technology, Sustainability & Intergenerational Wealth: The Future of Financial Advice?
These were four of the key aspects highlighted during the inaugural FEIFA Autumn Conference Series, which took place throughout November...
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Editorial - November 2020
Vincent J.Derudder FECIF Advisory Committee Member & Honorary Chairman
Building Partnerships with European Professional Associations
In 2000, under the presidency of Portugal, the “strategy of Lisbon” was launched to promote a European knowledge-based and competitive economy, in the paradigm of the competitive...
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Editorial - September 2020
Vania Franceschelli Deputy Chairwoman
The importance of fighting for gender equality in the financial advice industry
Gender equality is a key point in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25th September 2015. The plan set by the Agenda is formed by 17 goals that aim to...
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Editorial - July 2020
Edden Kift PortfolioMetrix business development team
5 ways advisers have remained client focused during COVID-19
The global pandemic has necessitated a rethink by many advisers about how they should go about their business. While some have continued to function relatively easily and effectively, for others...
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Editorial - May 2020
Vania Franceschelli Deputy Chairwoman
Millennials – a generation that needs to be heard
Financial advisors have to take into account that their role needs to be sustainable in the long term. A great role in this process is played by the ability to listen and study the habits and needs of new generations. A focus on the younger portion of the population will enhance...
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Editorial - March 2020
Josep Soler-Albertí CEO, IEF & Executive director, EFPA Spain
Financial advice and the cognitive biases of pensions
When Richard Thaler, after winning the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on the impact of irrationality and emotions in economic decisions, responded to journalists that he would spend the amount of the prize (one million euros) “irrationally”, he undoubtedly...
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Editorial - January 2020
Paul Stanfield FECIF Secretary General
Does financial advice provide value? It sure does!
A recent study proved that:
• Professional financial advice can and does significantly enhance clients’ wealth. • That this benefit occurs even in a commission environment. • And it is most valuable for less wealthy clients.
Quantifying the value of advice has always been somewhat...
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Editorial - October 2019
Jiří Šindelář Broker Consulting, a.s. former Deputy Chairman of FECIF
Yet another regulatory myth explained
Nobody in the financial industry could have missed how notable the attention has been in all recent regulations paid to the conflict of interest and its mitigation. All those MiFIDs, IDDs, MCDs and other Directives, have substantial parts dedicated to so called “inducements”. This is...
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Editorial - August 2019
David Charlet FECIF & ANACOFI Chairman
A new EU or same old, same old?
Will this summer see a new Europe or the return to the “good old continent"? What are the challenges for our profession and our clients?
It will not have been easy but finally, Ursula von der Leyen was...
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Editorial - June 2019
Olivia Geldenhuys PortfolioMetrix Head of Support, Europe
Trust – the cornerstone of financial advice
There’s a quote that says, “Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair”. This is nowhere truer than in the financial world, where a person’s quality of life relies on decisions made by the experts in whom they place their trust. As a financial adviser, your ability to build trust...
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Editorial - April 2019
Vincent J.Derudder FECIF Advisory Committee Member & Honorary Chairman
Happy Birthday FECIF! And here’s to real consumer protection
On the 30th June this year, FECIF will celebrate its 20th anniversary!
The Fédération Européenne des Conseils et Intermédiaires Financiers Aisbl (FECIF) was created on 30th June 1999 by a Royal Decree of the Belgian Ministry of Justice at the request of ...
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Editorial - February 2019
Vania Franceschelli Member of Fecif Board of Directors & Foreign Affairs, Anasf
ESG – growing in importance for everyone!
From a recent survey carried out by a famous global investment company, 46% of investors want to focus more on sustainability criteria for their portfolio choice and as a result 93% of fund managers cannot fail to take this into account in monitoring the company in which...
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Editorial - December 2018
Jiří Šindelář Deputy Chairman FECIF
Unique Research: In the first two years of the FECIF Expertise initiative, what have we learned so far?
It has been two years, since FECIF started its Expertise initiative, a huge push for greater and better knowledge about the pan-European financial advice and intermediation sector. Since I have been honoured to chair the whole project among...
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Editorial - October 2018
Daphne Foulkes, Board Member of FECIF, Chairperson of FEPI, and Partner at The Spectrum IFA Group
The Insurance Distribution Directive – Are you ready?
Since 2005, insurance intermediaries have operated under the rules of Directive (2002/92/EC) – the Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD). This has now been replaced by the EU Directive 2016/97 – the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD)...
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Editorial - August 2018
Vincent J.Derudder Honorary Chairman
Crisis in Europe?
Europe is going through a very serious crisis and so is the EU financial services industry.
To focus on some basic indicators, the world today is made up of a homogenous block of four dominant countries (the US, Russia, India and China) representing 4 billion people and..
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Editorial - June 2018
Jiří Šindelář Deputy Chairman FECIF
Did we become hostages to ever-increasing regulation?
According to most common sources, Stockholm syndrome is a type of psychological bond between hostage and their hijacker, when the former develops emotional ties to a person that beats, abuses or generally hurts him or her. Plainly sad, it is....
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Editorial - April 2018
Vania Franceschelli Member of Fecif Board of Directors & Foreign Affairs, Anasf
IDD and MiFID II. Beloved sisters or competing friends?
Time has come. On 19 March the amendment postponing the application date of directive 2016/97 (Insurance Distribution Directive - IDD) has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. By 1 July Member States shall thus adopt and publish all the laws...
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Editorial - February 2018
Daphne Foulkes, Partner, The Spectrum IFA Group and FECIF Board Member
Will your pension sustain you through retirement?
It is widely known that Europe’s ageing population is a problem for EU Member States. Quite simply, people are living longer and this impacts on the sustainability of State pension systems, referred to as...
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Editorial - December 2017
David Charlet FECIF & ANACOFI Chairman
Beyond robo-advisors, what might the future be for following generations?
The media seems to have only one word to say at present, when explaining our future: robots! Is it time for robo-advisors to replace our human members? If you take a look to some of our previous editorials, written by our Secretary General or some of our members, you will...
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Editorial - October 2017
Dhruv Mehta, Chairman of the FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL ADVISORS
Evolution and Regulatory Challenges – Lessons from India
The Foundation of Independent Financial Advisors (FIFA) is a body representing Advisors and Distributors of Mutual Funds in India, commonly known as Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs). During my recent meeting with FECIF I realised the common...
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Editorial - August 2017
Jiří Šindelář Member of FECIF board of directors
How Vox Populi in Europe is (sometimes) being portrayed
Two weeks ago, my home city of Prague hosted an important event: the Joint ESAs’ Consumer Protection Day. This is an event that forms an important part of the regulation agenda and according to its organisers should “discuss issues related to consumer...
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Editorial - June 2017
David Charlet FECIF & ANACOFI Chairman
Europe as financial advisers see it
A long time ago, the European Union used to be a place for the production of coal and steel. Nowadays, it seems to be a global Union far more engaged than the US with our jobs and other matters. Consider: in the US no would find “passports” for...
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Editorial - April 2017
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
Are you really ready for the future?
“The other day Ray was having a conversation with his 13 year old son and they ended up on a topic / issue that they needed more info on – his response was to “Google” it, his son chose to “YouTube” it. He realised at that point that they had different ways of looking for information, learning answers, and engaging with...
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Editorial - February 2017
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
Transparency not commission is the real key for 2017 and beyond
A number of industry commentators keep stating that it’s now all about the end of commission on a global basis – but is it, really? We all know of the switch to fees in the UK, and also a small number of other locations around the world, but certain other jurisdictions have also been quoted as moving in that direction, only for regulators in...
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Editorial - December 2016
Paul Resnik Cofounder & Director of Finametrica
Robo 3.0
Robo advisors are, beyond any doubt, hugely disruptive to the financial advice market. But not in the way that many people expect.
Many commentators and analysts are still focused on trying to pick the ‘Uber moment’, when robos wipe out the old world by...
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Editorial - October 2016
Schroders Investment Management
Over confident investors and the help they need
Investors thinking they know more than they do about investing could cause problems when it comes to their future financial planning.
Investors could be missing out on billions of Euros in investment returns by over estimating their own ability to understand...
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Editorial - August 2016
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
Robo-advice financially unviable
The above was the main content of an article in a financial industry publication last month. This was based on a recent study, which found that UK robo-advisers are structured in such a way that they will lose money and “most will go bust before acquiring the sizeable assets under management needed to survive”.
Food for thought, not least for regulators – many of whom seem...
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Editorial - June 2016
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
Do consumers and advisers finally have the same goals?
Over the last year or two it has struck me that the increasing complexity of regulation is not only being seen in a negative light by the financial advisory and intermediary market – there are also growing concerns being expressed by consumers and, in particular, consumer groups, that this is having a negative impact on the public at large.
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Editorial - April 2016
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
Interesting implications for the rest of Europe and beyond?
Last month saw the publication of the results for the UK’s Financial Advice and Market Review (FAMR). Whilst this might not have had much in the way of impact elsewhere across Europe, it perhaps should have done...
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Editorial - February 2016
Jiří Šindelář Member of FECIF board of directors
The Brussels’ Circle of Overregulation
Even though the European Union was given a series of warnings regarding its effort to regulate anything and everything, it did not slow down. Despite proclamations about “changing the course” and “smart regulation”, from November to December...
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Editorial - December 2015
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
Robo-advice: fact and fiction
I have lost count of the amount of articles about so-called robo-advice. It certainly is the “flavour of the month” and, if we believe all that we hear, will soon become the most important element in the delivery of financial services. I have some strong views on this….
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Editorial - October 2015
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
Where now for commissions?
European regulators eventually “stood back from the brink” and within the agreed text of both MiFID 2 and the IDD (Insurance Distribution Directive) fell short of a complete commission ban – a ban that many thought might well happen as little as 12 months ago!...
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Editorial - August 2015
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
The importance of effective representation
The compromise text for the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) was recently finalised and it was very pleasing to see that the vast majority of the proposals put forward by FECIF in the recent consultation period have been heeded.
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Editorial - June 2015
Garry Heath Director General Libertatem
Garry Heath announced the launch of Libertatem last month, a new trade association set up to represent all types of financial advisers based in the UK. His thoughts and plans are outlined below – they have great relevance to the rest of Europe.
Over the last decade the industry has lost sight ...
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Editorial - April 2015
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
10 reasons to use a Financial Adviser
Many people have the perception that only the very wealthy need financial advice. However, the facts are that anyone can potentially benefit from such advice...
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Editorial - February 2015
Garry Heath Journalist, The Heath Report assured
IFAs: Support trade associations or jeopordise independence
The last month has been one of travel. Firstly a symposium to address in Toronto and then it was Brussels and the FECIF conference...
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Editorial - September 2014
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
Our immediate goals
I was very pleased to be elected as the new Secretary General of FECIF at our last Board meeting, it is very much an honour to represent a body that supports and promotes the adviser...
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Editorial - October 2020
Paul Stanfield FECIF Secretary General
Only a quarter of advisers always consider ESG investments
This was one of the significant findings of the recent, unique, ESG survey conducted by FECIF. Whilst it was found that over 90% of financial advisory professionals considered ESG investments some of the time, just 23% did...
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Editorial - August 2020
Paul Stanfield FECIF Secretary General
FECIF: leading the way in ESG advice
I am very pleased to announce that we are presently conducting unique research in the area of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) and Financial Education. As the Federation (www.fecif.eu) is a pan-European trade associatio...
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Editorial - June 2020
Simon Colboc FEPI Secretary General
Advice in the time of Coronavirus
Our entire continent is only now coming to grips with the first impact of the COVID-19 epidemic in terms of lives and health but also human interaction and economics. In a way, we are shell-shocked, and it is difficult to start thinking beyond the immediate future. However...
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Editorial - April 2020
Simon Colboc FEPI Secretary General
How Europeans are REALLY preparing for retirement
Europeans are taking retirement planning into their own hands European policymakers and practitioners are undertaking fundamental reforms of existing pension structures, adapting non-pension assets that are used for support in retirement and creating...
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Editorial - February 2020
Vania Franceschelli Deputy Chairwoman
A Code of Conduct for Professionals
Financial advisers play a key role in helping citizens meet their goals and make informed investment decisions, with particular regard to the value of financial planning and the enhancement of financial education.
Recognising this important role, and the need for...
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Editorial - December 2019
Martin Klein Managing Director at Votum & Member of FECIF Board of Directors
Gold-plating continues to undermine the single European market
Is Germany on its way to becoming a planned economy by introducing a commission ceiling in the insurance industry? German governments like to see themselves in the position of...
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Editorial - September 2019
Vania Franceschelli FECIF Secretary General & Foreign Affairs, ANASF
The future rests on education
Financial literacy and education are key elements of the path to economic growth and social inclusion in the European Union. At the same time, it is important to remember the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted on 25 September 2015 by...
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Editorial - July 2019
Daniel GLASNER CEDR Accredited Mediator, Honorary Member of GSCGI and an Independent Financial Advisor at ACTION FINANCE SA
Dispute resolution – the Swiss way
In Switzerland, mediation will become mandatory in disputes relating to asset management and financial advice as set by the new Financial Acts FinIA and FinSA that will come into effect on January 1st 2020.
What’s new? Switzerland often successfully acts as Mediator in settlements of international conflicts. However...
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Editorial - May 2019
Vania Franceschelli FECIF Secretary General & Foreign Affairs, Anasf
MiFID II costs disclosure. Nothing is flawless, not even regulation
On March 28, ESMA, the European Securities and Markets Authority, updated its Questions and Answers (Q&A) document on the implementation of investor protection under MiFID II. The periodic update of the Q&As can be appreciated from different points of view...
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Editorial - March 2019
Simon Colboc FECIF Advisory Committee member
A PEPP saga update: pep or dud?
FECIF readers are now familiar with the European project to create a cross-border market for individual pension savings, the Pan-European Personal Pensions (PEPP) initiative.
Since this initiative first surfaced about three years ago...
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Editorial - January 2019
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
2019 – the year of the robo?
Happy New Year! And what a year it may well turn out to be.
Despite the deluge of Regulations and Directives in 2018, I believe that it will be the next 12 months when we will see and feel the true effects of these.
In addition, will 2019 see the true rise of so-called robo advice?...
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Editorial - November 2018
Jiří Šindelář Deputy Chairman FECIF
Are the regulators finally showing common sense?
During FECIF´s prestigious conference last week in Brussels, I started seriously thinking that after all, European regulators might be gaining some common sense in their thinking. Quite a heretical thought for a classical liberal, is it not? But when I heard MEP Mr. Markus Ferber talking about the PRIIPs KID being wrong...
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Editorial - September 2018
Daphne Foulkes, Board Member of FECIF, Chairperson of FEPI, and Partner at The Spectrum IFA Group
Next step for the PEPP saga
To date, many organisations have submitted detailed responses to the European Commission’s (EC) draft PEPP Regulation, which was published on 29th June 2017. There is strong consensus for the merit of the PEPP, both by the Trilogue participants (European Commission...
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Editorial - July 2018
David Charlet FECIF & ANACOFI Chairman
What sort of summer for intermediaries and Europe?
And now comes the time for holidays for most citizens in Europe, but also time for everyone in their offices to have a couple of quieter weeks, dedicating their work to more fundamental tasks like reviewing their processes or closing late files that...
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Editorial - May 2018
Simon Colboc Member of Fecif Advisory Committee
The PEPP saga: what does it mean for advisors?
Anyone interested in the future of pensions should welcome the European initiative on the Pan European Personal Pension products (PEPP). Retirement provision is a major issue facing all European countries, hit by a combination of increasing...
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Editorial - March 2018
Jiří Šindelář Deputy Chairman FECIF
How much do we pay for over-regulation?
Over-regulation of financial services in the European Union is a well-recognised fact, even among the bureaucracy in Brussels. The key feature of all those MiFIDs, IDDs or GDPRs, however, is not its devastating effect on the (small and medium-sized) businesses themselves, but its detrimental cost to the customer...
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Editorial - January 2018
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
The moment I realised the value of (human) advice
This was (almost) the title of an article I recently read – and which reminded me of the fact that many advisers don’t always realise just how much positive impact they have on people’s lives. Or where that impact is most beneficially experienced by the client...
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Editorial - November 2017
Vania Franceschelli FECIF Board Member and Regional Manager of the ANASF financial education programme
The social value of financial education
If I consider my personal experience as a financial advisor and, more generally, the provision of investment services to citizens, I can envisage two concepts for the future of our professional activity: investor protection and financial education. On the one hand, investor...
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Editorial - September 2017
Daniel Guéguen Head of Strategy and Lobbying at PACT European Affairs
A journey through the EU Institutions
Every year before the start of the summer break, I treat myself to a journey through the EU Institutions. I say ‘treat’ because it is a real pleasure for me to speak freely and in full confidence with elected politicians, senior civil servants, head lobbyists and representatives from...
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Editorial - July 2017
Vania Franceschelli FECIF Board Member & ANASF Executive Committee Member
Product governance requirements will lead to greater quality of advice
Product governance requirements represent one of the most outstanding innovations of MiFID II, aiming at ensuring that firms which manufacture and distribute financial instruments act in the clients’ best interests during all the stages...
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Editorial - May 2017
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
The value of advice – and the cost of being unadvised
There have been numerous studies over the years that have shown the value of good quality financial advice – not least, the fact that clients that receive it are, in general, significantly better off in retirement and much more financially protected during their life journey towards that point...
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Editorial - March 2017
Vania Franceschelli FECIF Board Member & ANASF Executive Committee Member
We need new market propositions not unnecessary bans
The final date for the transposition of MiFID II in each Member State – January 3rd 2018 – is fast approaching. Is it possible to see some initial insights into the industry, in order to foresee the impact of the Directive on business models? In particular...
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Editorial - January 2017
Daniel Guéguen Head of Strategy and Lobbying at PACT European Affairs
2017: action, action, action
”My right flank is destroyed, my left flank is in retreat, everything is fine – attack!” Those were the words of General Foch in the darkest moments of World War One. We are there once again. Sink or act – that is the choice we have.
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Editorial - November 2016
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
Playing your Trump card
Well, for those of us surprised by the Brexit vote - and there were plenty in the City of London that is for sure – the US election creates a whole new perspective with regards to astonishment, and on a much wider spectrum. I don’t know what it says about Hillary Clinton and her campaign – well, on reflection, I probably do – but the fact that Trump won, allied to the UK’s EU...
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Editorial - September 2016
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”
This famous quote was a statement made by Mark Twain on hearing that he had been mistakenly announced dead. Although it is apparently a slight misquote, the meaning remains very much in line with what the great writer intended. It also came to my mind the other day when I was once again thinking about so-called “robo-advice” and...
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Editorial - July 2016
John Westwood FEIFA Board Member and Blacktower Group Managing Director
Brexit: a disaster or something far less worrying?
The British electorate has given its verdict on the UK’s membership of the European Union in no uncertain terms but, in spite of some emotional appeals to the contrary, this is not a disaster.
It is worth remembering that on the 20th February 2016, when David Cameron announced that the EU referendum would...
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Editorial - May 2016
Rebecca Murphy Director of Sales & Marketing at Praemium Re-engaging the investor
Re-engaging the investor
It’s rough sailing right now for investors and savers alike! Volatile markets and low interest rates are the norm, and investors are bombarded with information about products and services without understanding how any of it relates to them...
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Editorial - March 2016
David Denton Member of FECIF board of directors
You can run, but you can’t hide
The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Common Reporting Standards (CRS) - also known as Automatic Exchange of Information - is gathering pace post FATCA. For decades, developed economies have wrestled with the notion that wealth overseas, whilst not illegal...
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Editorial - January 2016
Hans-Jürgen Bretzke CEO of FinanzAdmin GmbH
Some of the myths surrounding fintech companies
“I would go so far as to say that any broker armed with an average customer base and network is better placed than a fintech company on the strength of his or her client contacts alone.”
In this guest contribution, Hans-Jürgen Bretzke, a member of ...
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Editorial - November 2015
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
Pension provision - is this the real “gap”?
The “advice gap” has received considerable coverage in the personal finance pages and trade press for some time now, across the UK in particular but it is also a growing concern across Europe and beyond. I wonder, however, if the focus should really be on the “pension’s gap”...
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Editorial - September 2015
Vania Franceschelli Member of the Board of FECIF / Member of the Executive Committee of ANASF (Head of Foreign Affairs)
In July FECIF sent its contribution to the ESMA Consultation Paper on the Draft guidelines for the assessment of staff knowledge and competence under MiFID II. This Consultation Paper is of outmost importance for all financial advisors in Europe, as it provides the basis for the definition of the qualification and...
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Editorial - July 2015
Paul Stanfield Chief Executive at FEIFA / FECIF Secretary General
Making regulation more effective and accountable
The month of May saw the launch of a new trade association in the UK, as highlighted in last month’s editorial. It seems to me that its aims and concerns are highly important elsewhere in the EU.
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Editorial - May 2015
Johannes Muschik Chairman of FECIF, Chairman of AFPA
New Chairman takes office
Back to my desk after our Annual General Meeting where I have been elected as Chairman for the period 2015/2016. The AGM was also an opportunity to exchange views on a number of hot topics concerning our industry...
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Editorial - March 2015
Jiří Šindelář Chairman of USF CR / Member of the board of FECIF
Squaring the circle, or back to roots? A view of European regulatory turmoil from the former “Eastern Bloc”
When the Velvet revolution overthrew the Czech communist government in 1989, a crucial part of the change was the transition to liberal...
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Editorial - December 2014
Graham Reid Managing Director at Classic Financial Solutions CVBA
The true worth of an adviser
A few years ago one of our clients suffered a nervous breakdown. After early retirement he had continued working as a consultant from a small office at home, from where he also managed the family finances, something in which ...
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Editorial - July 2014
David CHARLET ANACOFI
For my first editorial as President of FECIF, I would like to thank every member of the Board, the General Assembly and the Staff. I would also express a special thought for Daniel Nicolaes, one of the best representatives of our profession in Europe, who disappeared a few months ago.
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