Activities of Vicky FORD related to 2013/2175(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on long-term financing of the European economy PDF (247 KB) DOC (123 KB)
Amendments (26)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 a (new)
Citation 2 a (new)
– having regard to the OECD Principles on Long Term Investment Financing,
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Notes that the EU financial system will become more resilient with a broader range of non-bank finance sources and instruments that serve savers and the long-term financing needs of companies;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Notes that investors may also be deterred from investing in certain sectors, given the risk of regulatory changes which can materially alter the economics of a project;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Notes that current procurement procedures in the EU often favour bank financing over capital market financing;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7c. Notes that current bankruptcy codes in the EU are fragmented and some may deter cross-border investment and restrict the ability of investors to recover their capital in the event a project fails; warns that a race to the bottom regarding investor protection must be avoided; recognises that bankruptcy provisions are a Member State competency;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes that commercial banks willare likely to remain a main source of finance and that it is key for the EUMember States to establish new sources to complement established mechanisms and fill the funding gap;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission to propose awork with Member States to enable the establishment of local, regional and pan- European frameworks for less liquid investment funds in order to channel the short-term liquidity of private households into long-term investments, and to provide an additional retirement solution;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Encourages the stakeholders to further developimpact assess the EU-European Investment Bank Project Bond Initiative and if appropriate to further develop the initiative to increase the financing of large European infrastructure projects in the transport, energy and information technology sectors; calls on the Member States to develop national project bond initiatives underpinned by guarantee schemes;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Believes also that public-private partnerships (PPPs) are to be considered as one of the complementary ways of funding capital intensive long term infrastructure projects;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Calls on the Commission and Member States to explore the potential for aggregation and pooling techniques and thereby improve the prospects for smaller- scale social and other infrastructure projects to ensure the necessary investment;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 c (new)
Paragraph 14 c (new)
14c. Calls on the Commission to enable a means to standardise infrastructure project data and to make it available via a central data warehouse;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 d (new)
Paragraph 14 d (new)
14d. Notes the rapid growth of crowd funding and believes it may bring new opportunities; stresses however that investor protection and transparency must be respected;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Believes that institutional investors – insurance companies, pension funds, family offices, mutual funds and endowments – are suitable providers of long-term financing, given the longer time horizons of their business models;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Stresses the need to improve access to capital markets through new sources of funding such as initial public offerings and (covered) bonds or through new market segments; supports the introduction of the SRM Growth Markets classification in Directive [MiFID]; calls on the Commission to support their development through the review of the Prospectus Directive; also calls on the Commission to consider a cross-directorate approach to explore ways of enhancing public markets for SMEs and how FSAP directives can diversify the pool of investors;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Believes that securitisation can play an important role in financial intermediation of both long-term and short-term assets and can be particularly beneficial for small and medium-sized borrowers; encourages efforts to securitise high- quality assets while avoiding structures of high complexity; notes that there is scope for more standardisation and transparency; calls on the Commission to follow closely the activities of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions- Financial Stability Board working group on securitisation and to develop a definition of ‘high-quality securitisation’; encourages an early review of current securitisation regulation in order to assess whether this has achieved an appropriate balance between increased transparency without overloading bureaucracy; warns the European Banking Authority in this regard to carefully assess the impact of increasing information requirements;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Notes the lack of a consistent approach to establishing a concept of 'high quality securitisation' in European bank capital and liquidity standards, insurance solvency requirements and eligible fund assets for Money Market Funds; recognises that an inconsistent approach in Europe and internationally may hinder the creation of a high quality securitisation funding channel which can bridge bank and capital market funding to European SMEs and households; notes the EIB-Commission initiative for funding SMEs relies on the existence of such a funding channel and its success will depend on a functioning 'high quality securitisation' market and investor confidence; calls on the Commission and Member States to show leadership by establishing working groups to develop an approach to "high quality securitisation", and to actively participate at a global level in the relevant IOSCO-BCBS working group;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Welcomes the agreement of the COSME and Horizon 2020 programmes and calls on the Commission to ensure that they are implemented in such a way that they will leverage additional private sector investment, for example via a public-private fund of funds;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Welcomes the Commission’s call for the use of private equity or venture capital as an alternative source of finance for high-risk investments, in particular vis-à- vis companies in the start- up and growth phases; notes that there is currently a strong tax bias favouring debt financing; believes that private equity and venture capital firms can provide valuable non-financial support including consultancy services, financial advice, marketing strategy and training;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Emphasises that an investor-friendly business climate with a strong drive for technological progress is a prerequisite for making the EU an attractive destination for foreign direct investment; stresses the need to encourage the free movement of capital both within the EU and between the EU and third countries, so that Europe can access global pools of capital; in this regard notes in particular the importance of ensuring that the AIFM Directive is implemented in such a way that foreign investment in Europe is encouraged;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. CallsBelieves that the cumulative impact of individual pieces of legislation and the overlaps between different regulatory initiatives puts additional burdens on investors; calls therefore on the Commission to assess carefully the cumulative impact of already concluded and ongoing financial regulation of long- term investment; stresses the need for this assessment to be accompanied where appropriate by targeted, fast-track reviews or repeals of specific elements of regulations which have resulted in adverse or unintended consequences for investment and the real economy;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Believes that a European financial transaction tax will put an additional burden on investors, especially due to double taxation if the tax is levied on the final sale of long-term fund addition to underlying investments; believes therefore that no financial transaction tax should be applied to long-term investments;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Welcomes the fact that the Commission has asked the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority to examine the potential calibration of certain capital requirement provisions under the Solvency II regime to avoid possible obstacles to long-term financing; calls on the Commission to consult fully on the proposed calibrations before they are finalised;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Reiterates its call, in the proposal for a regulation on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms, for exposures fully and completely secured by mortgagsenior secured exposures ton critical infrastructure projects in the European Union in the fields of transport, energy and communication to be assigned an appropriate lower risk weight;
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Believes that sound fair value accounting principles for institutional investors can enhance the transparency and consistency of financial information; stresses that those principles should avoid creating incentives for pro-cyclical strategies; notes the on-going debate in the EU and elsewhere, including Japan, around the use of fair value accounting, particularly mark-to-market and mark-to- model, and its role in exacerbating market instability as a consequence of its inherent pro-cyclicality; urges the International Accounting Standards Board and other relevant stakeholders to complete its project updating IAS 39 on loan-loss provisioning, but also questions whether current exposure drafts tackle the deeper problems associated with the 'capital markets' approach to accounting; urges the International Accounting Standards Board to recognise the central importance of prudence in the revision of its Conceptual Framework; notes ESMA's recent conclusions that EU bank accounts completed in accordance with IFRS are opaque and not comparable, in spite of these being two core reasons for shifting from national GAAPs to IFRS to enhance the Single Market; calls on the Commission to thoroughly investigate the role international financial reporting standards have had and continue to have not only on the transparency and comparability of banks' balance sheets, but also on their impact on management behaviour and corporate governance in banks and other financial institutions;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 b (new)
Paragraph 26 b (new)
26b. Calls on Member States to develop and publish their own national infrastructure plans in order to provide investors and other stakeholders with detailed information and to allow for more certainty about future projects;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Believes that there is a strong need for a stable tax environment which prevents impediments to long-term investments; notes that certain tax incentives and concessions can be key in fostering investment; stresses that the internal market requires stronger coordinationencourages the sharing of best practices of national tax policies and transparency in order to facilitate cross- border investment and avoid double taxation; encourages the Member States to assess the possibility of granting tax-free yields on infrastructure projects;