Biography
Agnès Le Thiec, CFA, is a former director of capital markets policy at CFA Institute in Brussels.
The worsening of the sovereign debt makes it necessary for EU leaders to take bolder steps to tame it. Agnes Le Thiec, CFA, examines possible options from an investor’s perspective.
The European Commission has published key legislation aimed at enhancing the protection of retail investors, including the Packaged Retail Investment Products (PRIPs) regulation. Agnes Le Thiec, CFA, examines how the PRIPs regulation would benefit investors.
As the debt crisis worsens in Spain and Italy, increasing the likelihood of a partial breakup of the eurozone with disastrous consequences, a draft report discussed in European Parliament urges Member States to seriously consider two tools: the issuance of common short-term debt in the form of eurobills and the set-up of a European Redemption Fund (ERF). Agnes Le Thiec, CFA, examines the proposal.
CFA Institute member feedback cited in European Commission report on eurobonds.
While EU policy makers have taken steps on a number of fronts to strengthen financial and institutional frameworks, it has failed to reverse the current trend of “financial disintegration” of EU markets.
Since the European Commission published in September a draft directive to impose a financial transaction tax (FTT) on EU member states, debate over the controversial proposal has been raging. It still seems very unlikely that an FTT would be implemented at the EU level, but the probability that it could be introduced in a limited number of member states is clearly growing.
The debate over eurobonds — sovereign bonds commonly issued by member states of the eurozone — has intensified over the last couple of months. Agnès Le Thiec, CFA, outlines the work CFA Institute is doing to ensure that investor voices are heard.
While repeated high-level summits of European leaders have failed to solve the sovereign debt crisis, EU public servants continue to explore possible ways to foster financial stability. The most daring proposal is the common issuance of sovereign bonds among Member States.
For people working in financial markets, the year 2011 could qualify as “the year of formidable public deficits on both side of the Atlantic”. Or “the year of the Eurozone crisis”. Or, on a related note, the “year of Greece”… READ MORE ›
The debate over whether a financial transaction tax (FTT) should be imposed in Europe is an old argument — one that resurfaced regularly over the years but never seemed likely to lead to any substantive action. This has changed,… READ MORE ›
After two years of negotiations among the European Commission, European Parliament, and Council of the European Union (composed of representatives of the 27 EU member states) as well as intense industry lobbying, the much-debated Alternative Investment… READ MORE ›
Since the financial crisis hit in 2008, the debate on whether to impose a new tax on the financial sector has been raging in Europe. With the European Parliament pushing for such a tax, the European Commission… READ MORE ›
These days, the attention of the financial industry, the regulators, the media, and the public at large in Europe is focused on the Greek sovereign debt crisis and the riots in Athens. This is understandable, as a blunt Greek… READ MORE ›
Have you noticed that women are typically under-represented in the boardrooms? Well, at least this is the case in Europe, where just one in 10 board members at Europe’s biggest companies are women and, in 97% of cases, the… READ MORE ›