This Wednesday, the Bundesverband Investment und Asset Management (BVI) held a banquet at the Royal Palace of Brussels. BVI represents the interests of 116 investment companies and asset managers, which together manage a whooping 4000 billions in capital. At the organizer's invitation, the VZMD President Mr. Kristjan Verbič attended the event, where he met and spoke with numerous distinguished guests, including the keynote speaker of the evening, the Director-General of the Directorate‑General for Economic and Financial Affairs, Mr. Thomas Westphal (in the photo), the CEO of BVI, Mr. Thomas Richter (in the photo) and the Managing Director of BVI, Mr. Rudolf Siebel.

This past week, VZMD President Mr. Kristjan Verbič actively participated at the Inaugural Session of the Expert Advisory Group of the Financial Services User Group at the European Commission (FSUG), to which he was appointed this May. The FUSG group has been established in 2010 by the European Commission in order to include the financial services users in the preparation of proposals and policy initiatives at the EU level. At the EU level, Mr. Verbič is also a member of the Financial Innovation Standing Committee's Consultative Working Group (FISC CWG) at the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and he was also a member of the Corporate Finance Standing Committee's Consultative Working Group (CFSC CWG) at ESMA. At the recent General meeting of the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (BETTER FINANCE) in Athens, he was elected for the fifth time to the Executive Board of this influential European association, which houses almost 5 million investors and 40 national associations of shareholders and investors.

The Pan-Slovenian Investors' & Shareholders'Association (VZMD) congratulates Mr. Ludvik Topak, President of the VZMD Expert Council, for the national decoration Golden Order for Merits, awarded to him on Statehood Day by the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Borut Pahor, for exceptional contribution to democratization and independence of Slovenia, and its international and academic recognition.

The high-profile international conference entitled 'A New Era of Investor Protection, Sustainability & Pension Reforms', organized by the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (BETTER FINANCE) and the Greek Association of Investors (HELINAS), took place last week in Athens. Over 250 participants attended the event with numerous presentations, speeches, and panels regarding the establishment of the capital markets union, promoting self-confidence and protection of investors, major reforms and investment projects in Greece, sustainable finances and investment strategies, as well as the role of the Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP).

The conference was attended by, among others, Christos Staikouras, the Greek Minister of Finance; Kostis Hatzidakis, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs; Adonis Georgiadis, the Minister of Development and Investments; Fausto Parente, the Executive Director of the Board of Supervisors of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA); Natasha Cazenave, the Executive Director of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA); Rainer Riess, the Director General of the Federation of European Securities Exchange (FESE); Guillaume Prache, the Managing Director of BETTER FINANCE; and John Kyriakopoulos, the president of HELINAS. The VZMD President, Kristjan Verbič, spoke to numerous notable participants at the event. Just the day before the conference at the General Assembly of BETTER FINANCE, Mr. Verbič had been elected into the Executive Board for the fifth mandate. The association houses almost 5 million individual investors and 40 national associations of shareholders and investors. 

Alongside the General Assembly of BETTER FINANCE and the International Investor Conference, Athens also hosted the meetings of both the previous and newly-elected Executive Board and the Legal Affairs Committee of BETTER FINANCE, a banquet for the conference participants, numerous informal meetings and talks, as well as a rich cultural program in the ever spectacular city of Athens and its vicinity. Similarly to the last year's meeting of BETTER FINANCE in Slovenia (VIDEO: undefined), the event provided many opportunities to present the investment activities, and possibilities included in the VZMD's business-investor programs: investo.si and investo.international.

www.vzmd.si – More on the VZMD – PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association

www.vzmd.tv and www.investo.tv – Over 300 videos from VZMD.TV and investo.tv

www.investo.si – More on the investo.si – Invest to Slovenia Program

www.investo.international – More on the network of 75 national organizations of shareholders and investors

At the General meeting of the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (BETTER FINANCE) which took place last week in Athens, the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, was elected into the Executive board of this influential European association for the fifth mandate. The association brings together almost 5 million individual investors and 40 national associations of shareholders and investors. The voting meeting was followed by an inaugural session of the Executive board immediately after, which named Jella Benner-Heinacher, currently the director of the German Investors' Association (DSW), as President of BETTER FINANCE, while Axel Kleinlein of the German association Bund der Versicherten (BdV) and the incumbent president of BETTER FINANCE, Jean Berthon of the French association FAIDER, became Vice-Presidents of BETTER FINANCE.

The meeting of the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (BETTER FINANCE) started today in Athens. Also taking place at the meeting are the elections into the Executive board of BETTER FINANCE and the International Investor Conference entitled »A New Era of Investor Protection, Sustainability & Pension Reforms«. The VZMD President and the current member of the Executive board of BETTER FINANCE, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, is also visiting Athens and had already attended some of the meetings and talks, including the meeting with John Kyriakopoulos, the president of the Greek Association of Investors – Helinas. The latter (in the picture) is the host and co-organizer of this conference, the first one after the last year's conference and annual meetings prepared by VZMD in Bled (VIDEO: https://youtu.be/JoaQyqZlVwg).   

Last month, after an unwelcome hiatus that lasted over two years, another in a 14-year and ever intense series of tours of the international business-investor programs of the Pan-Slovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD): Invest to Slovenia - investo.si & International Investors' Network - investo.international, was held. The tour took the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, to various conferences, receptions, and meetings that took place in Belgium, Monaco, Ireland, and United Kingdom.

Last Friday, London saw the conclusion of another in a series of VZMD's tours of the business-investor programs: Invest to Slovenia – investo.si and International Investors` Network – investo.international, which took the VZMD President to Ghent, Brussels, Monaco, Dublin, and Cork in the span of three weeks. In the final week, Mr. Verbič attended the ninth forum of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) called 'Next Generation Manager Forum 2022' which took place in the immediate vicinity of the famous Piccadilly Circus. The thematically rich forum serves as a hub where many high-profile representatives in consultants of various investors, managers, and financial companies share their experience and views.

Last week, the Irish city of Cork, known also as the headquarters of multinational corporations like Apple, Amazon, IBM, etc., hosted the Annual congress of the European Business Angel Network (EBAN), this time around under the title 'Reconnect, Reimagine, Reinvest'. In just two days, more than 330 prominent participants attended the biggest international event of business angels in Europe. After two years, the Congress again took place with direct participation and in light of reconnecting the investors, business angels, and entrepreneurs with new initiatives and projects. The participants attended various workshops, listened to renowned speakers, as well as the pitching presentations of projects and ideas of businesses seeking start-up capital.

Monaco is currently hosting the prestigious international financial forum called "IMpower - Incorporating FundForum", organized by Informaconnect, where numerous decision-makers and highest representatives of institutional investors, funds, asset managers, financial experts etc. are discussing the situation in the global investment market.