*/ /*–>*/ European fund managers should do more to disclose how they operate any investment funds that they market as “ethical”, according to an industry association. The market for ethical or “responsible” investing is booming in Europe, but there is no widely agreed understanding of what constitutes responsible investment, according to the European Fund and […]
Europe
Posted inEurope
Europe Sets Course for Tougher Governance Compliance
*/ /*–>*/ The European Commission will adopt a much tougher approach to corporate governance if it goes ahead with ideas floated in a new policy paper. One particularly controversial proposal is for stricter enforcement of the “comply or explain” method of governance that operates in many European Union member states. Under this approach, companies that […]
Posted inEurope
Europe’s National Regulators to Lose Influence
*/ /*–>*/ Europe’s national financial regulators will see their powers curtailed as the European Union’s new supervisory bodies get up and running, Hector Sants, head of the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) has warned. Commenting in the FSA’s latest annual report, Sants said it was “important to recognize the implications of the change”, which will […]
Posted inEurope
Europe Needs Tougher Related-Party Rules
*/ /*–>*/ The European Commission should introduce new rules forcing companies to disclose more information about related-party transactions, according to a body that advises it on corporate governance issues. The European Corporate Governance Forum called for tougher guidelines on the size of transaction that a company must disclose to its shareholders and new rules on […]
Posted inEurope
Court Scuppers Europe’s Single Patent Plan
*/ /*–>*/ The European Commission’s plans to create a unified patent litigation system were dealt a heavy blow today when the 27-member trading bloc’s senior court ruled the idea unlawful. The ruling comes with the Commission just days away from concluding a decades-long effort to reform its bureaucratic patent system. Currently, a business that wants […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Europe Plans Audit Revolution
*/ /*–>*/ The European Commission has told the audit profession that it faces a major overhaul later this year, warning that “the status quo is not an option.” Speaking at an event on the future of auditing in Brussels, Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier, the man responsible for regulating the profession in Europe, said action […]
Posted inEurope
European Tax Plan Would Up Compliance Costs
Ambitious plans to create a common corporate tax base across Europe would increase companies’ compliance costs by an average 13 percent, rather than reduce them as planned, according to a study by accountants Ernst & Young. Germany and France are leading the charge to introduce what they argue would be a far simpler way for companies to […]
Posted inEurope
Language Row Scuppers EU-Wide Patent
The European Union has failed to agree a new, slimmed down patent system, after a dispute over whether companies should be allowed to apply for a patent in Spanish or Italian scuppered talks. Michel Barnier, the European commissioner for the internal market, said the failure to agree the creation of an EU-wide patent would have […]
Posted inEurope
Europe Rules No Privilege for In-house Counsel
The European Union’s highest court has rejected a claim that documents created by in-house counsel are covered by lawyer-client confidentiality in competition cases. The ruling leaves E.U. law in conflict with the legal position that holds in several of its member states. The European Court of Justice this week upheld a controversial lower court ruling […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Europe Agrees U.S. Audit Intelligence Swap, for Now
The European Commission has finally allowed national audit oversight bodies to share intelligence with their U.S. counterparts, but only on a trial basis. The Commission shut U.S. audit regulators out of a deal reached with other countries last September because they wouldn’t agree to share their working papers in return. In the European Union, audit […]