On Monday 29 January, the MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) voted with 33 votes in favour, one against and no abstentions in favour of the report by Othmar Karas (EPP, Austrian) on amendments to several European regulations on financial services.
In total, five regulations are covered by this text, which proposes to lighten the reporting requirements for companies and financial sector players in the European Union, notably by reducing certain administrative burdens or inconsistencies.
At a meeting of the ECON Committee on Wednesday 10 January, several MEPs expressed their intention to support Mr Karas’ draft report (see EUROPE 13326/3). However, some of them had pointed out that the text was insufficient to meet the ambition of a vast Capital Markets Union (CMU), which was supposed to stimulate private investment and access to capital for small and medium-sized enterprises (see EUROPE 13143/3).
The European investors’ federation, Better Finance, is sceptical about the real impact of the measures recommended in the draft report to widen investors’ options: “The direct beneficiaries of financial services may not see a clear advantage, as it concerns information shared among national authorities and EU agencies rather than information for the beneficiaries”, it commented on Monday, on the sidelines of the vote. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)