Eurofi is a European think tank dedicated to financial services, with the aim of helping to build a fluid, efficient and secure EU Single Capital Market.

Eurofi addresses prospective regulatory or industry driven subjects, as well as contentious issues which are currently debated at EU level or are of particular interest to EU industry players.

Eurofi acts as a catalyst for the market and as a neutral go-between between industry players and EU Institutions. This not for profit organization brings together financial institutions of different sizes and statutes.

Co-Presidents of Eurofi

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Eurofi brings together financial institutions of different sizes and statutes: domestic and cross-border banks and insurance companies with different legal statutes, broker dealers, asset managers, market infrastructures... The members of Eurofi are companies based in the main EU countries as well as well as subsidiaries of US firms. Eurofi works with all the representative stakeholders involved in a given subject to help them solve issues or identify new ideas and interact with EU political decision makers and legislators.

Financial cross-border supervision, the Solvency II Directive, the review of the UCITS Directive and the new Alternative Investment Fund Manager Directive, Accounting and Prudential rules to favour long term investment for example are major areas of focus of the work of Eurofi. The proposals made by Eurofi are presented to the main leaders of the EU authorities and discussed at the occasion of the Financial Forums organized by Eurofi"

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OUTCOME OF THE PROCESS OF REFORM ENGAGED IN THE US AND CONSISTENCY WITH THE EU PROCESS

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A few weeks before the Seoul G20 Summit, the Eurofi think tank, co-chaired by Jacques de Larosière, is organising its annual international forum in Brussels (Centre Flagey) alongside the EU Council of Finance Ministers meeting, which will also be taking place in Brussels.

This international event will bring together the main public decision-makers from the Commission, Parliament, Council, European Central Bank and regulators, as well as many leaders from the banking, insurance and market industries to discuss the priorities for financial supervision and regulation required to further strengthen financial stability and economic growth. Users of the European financial market (issuers, businesses, consumers) will also be invited to have their say on the actions to be taken in this area.

Discussions on the first day of this forum will look at the regulatory priorities for the Belgian Presidency as well as the Commission's legislative agenda in the financial services sector and the need to define a new European action plan: revision of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), Solvency 2 application measures, revision of the pension funds directive, organisation of derivatives markets, draft directive on securities clearing and settlement-delivery activities, consumer protection, etc.
These discussions will highlight the specific regulatory changes to be planned for concerning market and payment infrastructures, in addition to those relating to the various financial institutions: fund managers, pension funds, insurers, retail and investment banks, at domestic or cross-border levels.

During the following days, in view of the coming G20 Summit in Seoul, discussions will focus on defining a European common regulatory and supervisory basis to achieve resilience, growth and competitiveness. Progress made with the measures recommended by the De Larosière Report will also be reviewed (Systemic Risk Committee, European authorities, etc.).
Specific exchanges will make it possible to define under which conditions long-term investment can fully perform its role as regards financial stability and economic growth.

Programme

DAY 1 : Monday 27 sept 2010

Eurofi 10th Anniversary

[01] Eurofi 10th Anniversary debate and cocktail (by invitation–Conrad Hotel)  Eurofi 10th Anniversary

New challenges to EU integration raised by globalization and the financial crisis:
regulatory process, single market policies, EU fiscal policies, payment and securities infrastructures, etc
Organised with the Support of CNP

1. Objectives and drivers for achieving the single EU financial services market
• What were the main objectives (i.e. increased efficiency, diversification of products and services offered, reduced costs, the emergence of EU champions…) and drivers (eg fostering competition, legal harmonisation...) underpinning the former Financial Action Plan and the White Paper on Financial Services 2005/2010? What has been achieved? What have been the possible negative consequences of the crisis on this agenda e.g. “refragmentation”, protectionist behaviours... or possible changes in the priorities pursued e.g. more weight put on financial stability or safety? What impact could this have for cross border activities and players?

• In what way should the objectives and drivers of the single EU financial market evolve in order to take into account the growing global dimension of some markets or activities, growing financial innovation, the recent financial crisis and the need for financing to foster economic growth? In what way does increased competition within Europe contribute to developing the competitiveness of European players/infrastructures in the global arena? Can competition have negative effects in some cases?

• How should now be combined the possible EU political and legislative objectives e.g. reinforcing financial stability, favouring EU growth, reinforcing consumers’ protection, creating EU financial infrastructures, increasing competition, reducing financial services market fragmentation, favouring cross-border financial activities, etc?

2. Evolutions required of EU legislative tools and processes
• Are the rules of the current Treaties adapted to the new context and priorities following the crisis e.g. cross border guarantee schemes, common bailout of the resolution of a financial cross border institution, country neutral supervisors mandate...?

• Does the Lamfalussy process need to be reviewed to fully reap the expected benefits of the future EU supervisory and regulatory authorities?

• Is the Lamfalussy process adapted to quantitative or technical directives requiring several impact analyses and calibrations e.g. Solvency II, CRD IV etc.? Can Level I measures be appropriately defined in these cases without calibrations that are usually completed at Level II? Is the call back procedure of the Lamfalussy process – to submit Level II decisions to the EU Parliament in certain cases – sufficient or adapted in cases where political decisions need to be reviewed or fine tuned at Level II following difficulties to achieve a consensus at Level I?

• Is the present institutional process adapted to on-going innovation in financial markets, to the intensity of competition in certain markets which are increasingly globalized and to the need to transpose quickly and coherently global agreements e.g. of the G20 in EU legislation?

3. Prospects for EU Securities and Payments Infrastructures Securities infrastructures:
• Have differences in total order execution costs for cash instruments between the EU and the US been sufficiently reduced over the last years? Should achieving further cost reductions of order executions remain a major priority following the crisis or should safety and stability objectives be more strongly put forward in EU capital markets legislation?

• Are medium and long-term investors and issuers negatively impacted by the increasing volatility of capital markets and by an increasing proportion of arbitrage-related activities? What is the respective role played by MiFID and evolutions in trading techniques and technology eg high frequency trading, algorithmic trading, active short selling, etc., in these trends?

• Should competition between infrastructures remain the main driver to reduce costs and improve efficiency in this context? Should differences be made in the objectives pursued and drivers used between different types of instruments (i.e. cash instruments and derivatives) and different activities (i.e. trading, clearing and settlement) taking into account possible economies of scale, levels of risk, level of commoditisation of services...?

• How to ensure sufficient coherence among the different legislations impacting capital markets (MiFID review, EMIR, Short-selling rules, Market Abuse Directive review, CRD…)?

• What type of post-trading infrastructure is required to leverage the benefits of competition created in the trading space? Are the rules defined in EU legislation combined with the implementation of T2S sufficient for market forces to evolve towards an optimal organization of securities infrastructures at an overall EU level?

• Does the implementation of T2S lead to an evolution of business models of CSDs? What impacts for issuers, investors and custodians?

• Does the increasing fragmentation of venues and infrastructures following the implementation of MiFID require more coordinated/integrated surveillance tools?

EU retail payments
• To transform Europe in a single euro payments area and reduce existing product and price discrepancies, Europe has built up its Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) focusing mainly on enhanced competition between payment schemes and between the diverse service providers operating along the value chain of each scheme (i.e. acceptors and issuers, clearers, data processors, etc). What has been achieved so far? Are national specificities tending to disappear? What remains to be done? What evolutions would be required in the SEPA project to achieve EU payments integration?

• Should some additional priorities be taken into account (European independence, safety etc.)? In such a context is there a need for EU payment infrastructures? Does the SEPA project provide Europe and European players with sufficient advantages in the global context?

• Payments business models have been much debated. What has been achieved so far? What are the main differences between the choices made in Europe and those made in other regions? Is there a need for further clarifications in this area?

• What are the priorities (e-invoicing, evolution of payments technical standards, mobile payment, payments security, etc.) and the key success factors (e.g. EU Payment governance, cooperation with other geographic areas etc.) for Europe to seize the opportunities offered by constant technological changes?
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Welcome :
Mr. Didier Cahen Secretary General, Eurofi

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Moderator :
Mr. Jacques de Larosière Co-president, Eurofi
Mr. Daniel Lebègue Co-President, Eurofi

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Panellist :
Mr. Joaquin Almunia EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs
Mr. EDMOND ALPHANDÉRY Chairman of the Board, CNP Assurances
Mr. PETER AYLIFFE President and Chief Executive Officer, Visa Europe
Ms. Pervenche Berès MEP, European Parliament
Mr. Frits Bolkestein Former European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Taxation and the Customs Union, European Commission
Mr. Thierry Francq Secretary General, Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF)
Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker President, Eurogroup and Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Luxembourg

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Proposals regarding proportionality principles and the obligations of the depositary in the AIFM Directive