Individual political parties and deputy groups have responded to the letter of the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, who has sent it last week to the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, presidents of parliamentary parties and leaders of deputy groups containing substantiated warnings and an appeal in view of the Bill on amending Financial Instruments Act  (ZTFI-G). A meeting with representatives of the political party "Nova Slovenija – krščanski demokrati (NSi)", attended by the leader of the deputy group, Mr. Matej Tonin, the party's Secretary general, Mr. Robert Ilc, and the President of the Economic Club, Mr. Pavel Reberc, took place yesterday where the attendees listened to the arguments of the PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD) which firmly opposes the amendment to Article 255 of the ZTFI with the additional paragraph 10. The NSi representatives showed their understanding for VZMD's arguments and made sure that they would thoroughly examine them and state their position in the next meeting of their deputy group.

The World Federation of Investors (WFI), whose active member is also the PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD), has announced news regarding the damages inflicted to investors in Volkswagen. The American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested an executive of Volkswagen and accused him of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., which implies the intensification of the criminal investigation of fraud committed by the car manufacturer in terms of diesel motor emissions. Mr. Oliver Schmidt, who was the compliance manager for Volkswagen in the U.S. from the summer of 2014 to March 2015, was arrested by the investigators in Florida at the beginning of the month.

Immediately after yesterday's meeting of the Executive Board, the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (Better Finance) drafted  and sent out an open letter firmly supporting the PanSlovenian Investors` & Shareholders` Association (VZMD) and “Share SUPPORT” in the opposition to the proposal of the amending act to Financial Instruments Act (ZTFI-G), adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia at its session on 5 January and sent for reading to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia by way of summary procedure. The letter from Better Finance was, in addition to the members of the National Assembly, sent out also to the Slovenian Prime Minister, Mr. Miro Cerar, director of the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (FISMA), Mr. Ugo Bassi, and Head of the Securities Markets Unit at FISMA, Mr. Tilman Lueder. In this regard, today Better Finance also sent out a public announcement, which was received besides media and business audience and relevant European and financial institutions, also by the members of the European Parliament.  

Brussels was yesterday a venue of the important meeting of the Executive Board of the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (Better Finance), which, in the capacity of a member, - besides representatives of investors' and shareholders' associations from Denmark, France, Iceland, Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom - was also attended by the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič. The central part of the agenda was the medium-term strategy, adoption of the budget including determination of additional financing resources, discussion about the personnel reinforcement and future investors conferences and expertise.

The PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD) President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, sent the Speaker of the National Assembly, presidents of parliamentary parties and leaders of deputy groups a letter with substantiated warnings and an appeal in view of the Bill on amending Financial Instruments Market Act (ZTFI-G), as adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia at its last session on 5 January and sent for reading to the National Assembly by way of summary procedure today. Furthermore, in its accompanying press release, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia communicated that one of the main goals of the amending act would be "to eliminate identified deficiencies and inconsistencies of the applicable Financial Instruments Market Act".

While preparing for the recent legal actions for damages due to expropriations in Slovenian banks, the problem of expropriated investors was, beside the PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD) team, also addressed in detail by the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (Better Finance). The Better Finance Managing Director, Mr. Guillaume Prache, presented the actual implementation of the bail-in rules in case of Slovenian banks at the Banking Stakeholder Group meeting at the European Banking Authority (EBA) on December 8 in London. He especially made reference to the individual and retail investors, who didn't have any opportunity for damages since the expropriation nor any opportunity for legal remedies against the total expropriation.

The traditional International Investors' Conference “European Capital Markets Union” took place in Wiesbaden, Germany yesterday. The conference, held every other year by the German association of shareholders and investors (DSW) and European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (Better Finance), was attended by over 120 prominent guests and the highest representatives of companies and institutions in the field of capital markets and finance.

Yesterday, the annual meeting of the World Federation of Investors (WFI) and a congress of the International Financial Litigation Network (IFLN) began at the Representation of the European Commission in Madrid. The two-day conference is organized also by the Spanish Investor Association (AEMEC), International Law Firms Network (EURO-LATAM LEX), and one of the most influential Spanish law firms, Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo; the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (Better Finance) and the World Jurist Association (WJA) also participated in its preparation.

The British-Slovenian Chamber of Commerce organized a business breakfast entitled "Corporate culture change in Companies with FDI" yesterday in Ljubljana to discuss foreign direct investments. Numerous participants attended the panel where the highest representatives of Laško Union, Trimo, Iskraemeco, PwC and Droga Kolinska / Atlantic Group companies shared their experience on corporate culture changes in the light of foreign investments.

Yesterday, the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Milan Brglez, and the associates form his Office officially received the PanSlovenian Investors` & Shareholders` Association (VZMD) President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, and showed great interest in hearing the VZMD initiatives and proposals.(Photo by Barbara Žejavac, the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia)

At the meeting, Mr. Verbič presented the standpoints and concrete proposals of the VZMD regarding the issues and regulation of the status of the expropriated holders of shares and subordinated bonds of Slovenian banks, also due to the recent decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia (VIDEO from the VZMD's press conference). On this occasion, he also presented the VZMD starting points for the special act, which should remedy the unconstitutional lacuna regarding the judicial protection against the Bank of Slovenia's Emergency measures decisions. Furthermore, VZMD proposes solutions entirely based on the provisions from already existing law - specifically the Employment Relationships Act, Labor and Social Courts Act, Court Fee Act, and Non-litigious Civil Procedure Act - and at the same time also proposes that this time the Ministry of Justice should be actively included in the drafting of the special act, in addition to the Ministry of Finance.

The PanSlovenian Shareholders' and Investors' Association (VZMD) welcomes the fact that the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia finally completed the constitutional review of the legal regulation of the expropriation of holders of Slovenian banks' subordinate bonds and stocks on October 27, 2016; it recognized two articles of this regulation (Article 350.a of the ZBan-1 and Article 265 of the ZRPPB) as unconstitutional since the expropriated persons were deprived of the right to efficient judicial protection (Article 23 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia). The review was triggered by an initiative written by the lawyer Mr. Miha Kunič and the prime mover of the initiative Mr. Tadej Kotnik, member of the VZMD Expert Council, on behalf of the 158 expropriated natural persons.