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.

The 8th international congress of the influential organization European Federation of Building Societies (EFBS) entitled »Brave New World for Finance?« started on 19 October 2016 in Budapest. After the evening gala reception at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the conference was opened by Mr. Dániel Palotai, the Managing director of the Hungarian National Bank, and Mr. Boris Vujčić, Governor of the Croatian National Bank. The highly visible congress hosted six round tables, and the 3rd session »Financial stability, consumer protection, long-term financing – European and national initiatives«, featured a presentation by the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, who attended the conference at the invitation of the organizers. The presentation was prepared in cooperation with European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (Better Finance) and Romanian Association of financial services users (AURSF).

A market of 850 million consumers might experience significant changes in buying and selling habits in the coming months. As part of the international business-investor programs Invest to Slovenia (investo.si) and the International Investors` Network (invest-to.net), the Pan-Slovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD) received information on - as it seems - currently the biggest European project of a new, digital economy: »wee 2.0«(VIDEO). The latter also creates - in addition to cost-free mobile payment - interesting investment opportunities, at the individual level, as natural persons, and at the level of legal persons, organizations, chambers of commerce, associations, clubs etc. Opportunities for collaboration, participation and joint ownership in the company (project operator), which definitely bring about great challenges and opportunities, can be explored by submitting the form.

Before last night's football match between Slovenia and England, Ljubljana hosted the SPORTS MEETS BUSINESS conference as well as guests and a business delegation from the United Kingdom.