A day-long meeting of the Expert Advisory Group of the Financial Services User Group at the European Commission (FSUG), a member of which is also the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, took place last Thursday, with active participation of the European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, Ms. Mairead McGuinness. She received several questions from the FSUG members covering the most pressing issues regarding the consumers and retail investors, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises in the context of financial services.
As financial services are one of the sectors where the 'EU single market' has not produced the expected results, the FSUG members – also at the suggestion of the VZMD – asked the Commissioner, among other things, how to provide the consumers with an opportunity to benefit from the more affordable financial services in (other) member states. Practically speaking, despite the rapid digitalization, this is in fact still impossible for most consumers. Furthermore, Commissioner McGuinness endorsed the efforts of the representatives of both the consumers and retail investors, and highlighted her own efforts to resist the pressures of the financial industry. She underlined the significance of financial literacy and of empowerment of EU citizens in the area of financial services. This is the only way the EU citizens will be able to ensure their own financial security, thus making the European society as a whole even stronger.
The participants discussed various topics, including the drafting of the Listing Act, with which the Commission aims to reset the existing rules and make Europe's capital markets more accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises while at the same time creating opportunities for retail investors. They also addressed the Commission's progress regarding its retail investment initiative, the effect of the recently adopted regulations regarding the ESG ratings (environmental, social, and governance) on the users of the retail financial services. When introducing the activities of individual FSUG members, Mr. Verbič presented the developments in the proceedings conducted by the VZMD in the case of the squeeze-out/expropriation of the shareholders of MERCATOR, as well as the successful collaboration with the Slovenian Consumers' Association (ZPS), with which the VZMD has recently launched a campaign entitled ‘HALO OPERATER! BODI FER’ (Hello, operator! Be fair.) (VIDEO: https://youtu.be/gAhydt96hQI) – www.kolektivno-varstvo.si.
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