Finance Watch

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Finance Watch
logo
legal form Non-profit association under Belgian law
founding 2011
Seat Brussels , Belgium
motto For a financial industry that serves society
main emphasis Financial regulation
Action space European Union
Chair Monique Goyens
Managing directors Benoît Lallemand
Website www.finance-watch.org

Finance Watch is a non-governmental organization based in Brussels, which prepares specialist analyzes of the financial markets and their regulation at national and European level and, as a citizens' advocate, publicly represents the public interest.

Principles

In the opinion of the association, the financial sector has an important but serving function in relation to the real economy , namely to provide capital and financial services for productive purposes. It is true that it is legitimate and necessary to make profits in finance, too, but the profits should not be "at the expense of society". Accordingly, the risks of loans with which the financial sector earns money must not be transferred to society . The ultimate goal of Finance Watch is to ensure that the real economy receives capital and financial services "sustainably, fairly and transparently."

founding

The establishment on June 30, 2011 goes back to an initiative from summer 2010 by 22 MEPs from different political parties ( ALDE , EPP , Greens-EFA , GUE / NGL and the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Social Democrats in the European Parliament ). The first signatories of the Finance Watch founding declaration include: Burkhard Balz , Pervenche Berès , Udo Bullmann , Leonardo Domenici , Pascal Canfin , Sergio Gaetano Cofferati , Elisa Ferreira , Jean-Paul Gauzès , Sven Giegold , Robert Goebbels , Charles Goerens , Thomas Handel , Eva Joly , Jürgen Klute , Philippe Lamberts .

After a six-month start-up phase thanks to project funding from the initial signatories, Finance Watch was finally founded on June 30, 2011. Ieke van den Burg , previously MEP , was elected as the first chairman of the board, and Thierry Philipponnat, a former banker and then with Amnesty International , was elected first general secretary.

Working method

The organization's experts prepare their own specialist analyzes in the field of financial regulation, on the basis of which they formulate concrete proposals for legislative measures. The lobby team then submits these to political decision-makers. Finance Watch works together with its member organizations. The communication team prepares the analyzes for the broader public. The organization has already carried out analyzes on the following topics: capital requirements for banks ( Basel III ), bank structure, high-frequency trading , food and raw material speculation and consumer protection in the area of ​​financial services. Finance Watch also organizes conferences on financial market regulation, at which the various interest groups, politicians and supervisory authorities exchange information publicly.

organization

The international not-for-profit organization under Belgian law ( AISBL ) that welcomes two groups of members: civil society organizations and qualified individual members. The former include consumer organizations , trade unions , conservation organizations, and others. To become a member, applicants must demonstrate their independence from the financial industry to the organization's committee for transparency and independence. Individual members must also demonstrate that they have relevant specialist knowledge and experience. The members come together at least once a year for the general assembly. The Board of Directors represents the members for the remainder of the year.

The Board of Directors currently consists of the following organizations and individuals (as of June 2017):

  • Chairman of the Executive Board: Rainer Lenz (Professor for International Finance at the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences )
  • Deputy Chairman of the Board: Morten Clausen - Nordic Financial Unions (NFU)
  • Treasurer: Andrea Baranes - Fondazione Finanza Etica
  • Fran Boait - Positive Money
  • Grégoire Niaudet - Caritas France
  • Rainer Geiger
  • (Extraordinary) board member: Marc Roche (author, financial journalist)
  • (Extraordinary) Board Member: Eric De Keuleneer (Professor of Economic Regulation and Banking at the Solvay School of the Free University of Brussels)

Budget compared to that of the banks

The organization has an annual budget of 1.5 million euros. In comparison, the financial industry's budget for its 1,700 lobbyists in Brussels is at least 120 million euros, according to a new study.

According to information on their website, the association was financed in 2016 from the following sources:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.finance-watch.org/about-us/staff?staff_id=5
  2. ↑ Why Finance Watch?
  3. ↑ Signatory
  4. ↑ a b Governance and Financing . Finance Watch website. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  5. ↑ "The fire power of the financial lobby" , published by the Corporate Europe Observatory , the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labor, Brussels Office (AK EUROPA) and the ÖGB Europe Office, April 2014.