The international conference was characterized by numerous presentations of projects, initiatives, approaches and challenges of national associations who are members of BETTER FINANCE. In the introductory part, representatives of European associations for financial planning and consulting from Spain and Czech Republic (EFPA), the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) from USA and France, and the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) presented their work in the area of raising awareness and education of investors. The digital tools for improving the investor "literacy" were presented by speakers from the Czech Consumer Association - SČŠ (FingrPlay), the French Federation of Individual Investors and Investment Clubs - f2ic (NextWise), the Belgian League for Investors - VFB (VFB Investment Academy), the Austrian Shareholder Association - IVA (Investor Education in a Digital World) and the Polish Association of Individual Investors - SII (Investor education in Poland in the digital age).

The seminars included presentations about stock exchange licenses by the representative of the German Investors' Association (DSW), investor education in the UK by the representative of the UK Shareholders’ Association (UKSA), the Danish Investor Academy by the Danish Shareholders Association (DAF), the Swedish "Ung Privatekonomi" project by the Swedish Shareholders' Association (Aktiespararna), the initiatives and challenges in Luxembourg by a speaker from the Luxembourg Private Investors' Association (Investas), the Maltese investment education project by a representative of the Malta Association of Small Shareholders (MASS) and the EOLE Programme (European program for the education of employee shareholders) by a representative of the European Federation of Employee Share Ownership (EFES).

The social lunch was followed by group workshops with brainstorming focusing on different approaches to investor education, to audience and the impact of said education. At the conclusion of the conference, the participants voted for two examples of best practice and were addressed by Guillaume Prache, Managing Director of BETTER FINANCE (who has visited Slovenia several times - VIDEO).

Other Related International Activities:

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY - in Slovenia, financial intermediaries became beneficiaries of dividends instead of (minority) shareholders - the VZMD has appealed for the additional Authentic interpretation of the Act due to the renewed circumvention of the law,

VZMD's 'Share SUPPORT' persists despite coalition's support for the controversial amendment to the Act and pressures from the financial industry

VIDEO TALK with the prominent international attorney, after meetings at the VZMD’s headquarters - preservation and European perspective of the “Share SUPPORT”, actions against VolksWagen, internationalization of the settlement of expropriated investors in Slovenian banks, significant recovery of costs for truck owners

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY - the proposal by the Slovenian Government also rejected at the Finance Committee - owing to VZMD's arguments the Committee ’s amendment to Article 25 of ZTFI was adopted, which makes it open for promised improvements

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY - VZMD at today’s meeting supported by the Committee of the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia, NSi party, European Federation of Investors, civil society as well as with further arguments against the government proposal of the amending act aimed at destroying the “Share SUPPORT” and further expropriations

INSTANT DISMISSAL OF GOVERNOR! - reaffirmation of VZMD's shocking analyses and statements in regard to the billion-euro "Plunder of the century" during the bank "restructuring" and direct responsibility of the National bank of Slovenia executives for enormous damages to the citizens and the Republic of Slovenia

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO REPORT from the meeting of the Committee of the Slovenian National Council which unanimously took VZMD’s side after facing off with the Securities Market Agency (ATVP) and the Ministry of Finance regarding the disputable Article 25 of the amending act to the Financial Instruments Act

EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK - official letter by the Slovenian MEP about serious issues regarding the unjustified calculations on which the expropriations and nationalization of all Slovenian systemic banks were based - again no actual answer!

vzmd.newswire.com – Do the Slovenian authorities really only react to referendum initiatives?! - Due to complete disregard by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, the VZMD is forced to continue the internationalization of the unique(!) bail-in restructuring of Slovenian banks together with mass expropriation and enormous damage to all taxpayers

THE SUPREME COURT - the highest ordinary court of law in Slovenia also bolstered the position of the VZMD: the law with which the self-proclaimed "domestic troika" nationalized as many as six of our banks is unconstitutional!

CALL FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION due to alarming advertising by financial intermediaries and detrimental effects of abolishing registry accounts which could lead to disappearance of 200,000 small investors and bring about catastrophic consequences for the issuers (public limited companies) and the entire capital market

vzmd.newswire.com – in view of the disregard of the Government and financial authorities in the Republic of Slovenia, the VZMD is compelled to point out to the burning issues of the bail-in restructuring of Slovenian banks along with the expropriation of shareholders and bondholders through international media

LUXEMBOURG - The reasoned opinion published today by the Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice reaffirm the arguments made by VZMD and the expropriated investors

EU Commission & Slovenian Government - European warnings due to detrimental consequences of expropriation and a call to resolve the untenable situation as soon as possible

BANKIA – a success of Spanish minority shareholders encourages also the expropriated share and bond owners in Slovenia – invitation to obtain compensation

PARIS – the highest representatives of European investors' associations were very interested in hearing the in-depth presentation by Mr. Kotnik and Mr. Verbič regarding the 'bail-in' procedures in the EU, and were extremely surprised by the unique and radical, downright disastrous violations and expropriations in the Republic of Slovenia

PARIS – in the General meeting of the European Federation of Investors, Mr. Kotnik and Mr. Verbič acquainted prominent international participants with the scandalous expropriation of shareholders and bondholders of Slovenian banks, activities and endeavors of the VZMD - PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association

LUXEMBOURG – on Tuesday it was the first time for Slovenia to stand before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice due to the expropriation of shareholders and bondholders of Slovenian banks

Slovenian EUR 264 million to pay off investors in shares and bonds of Greek banks as well – Slovenian authorities continue to thumb their nose at expropriated investors in Slovenian banks and their own taxpayers - BUT FOR HOW LONG!?!

EU COURT - prior to the pending public hearing in Luxembourg, new shocking facts have come out in regard to the background of the (dual) plunder of holders of shares and bonds of Slovenian banks and at the same time the plunder of all Slovenian taxpayers which rampantly keeps going on!

Slovenian EUR 264 million to pay off investors in shares and bonds of Greek banks as well – Slovenian authorities continue to thumb their nose at expropriated investors in Slovenian banks and their own taxpayers - BUT FOR HOW LONG!?!

EU COURT in Luxembourg should hold oral proceedings in the process of preparing responses for the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia - the motion of expropriated holders of subordinated bonds and shares of Slovenian Banks represented by VZMD put forward

BRUSSELS – European Federation of Investors (BETTER FINANCE) presented the only(!) objective Report on the real return of pension savings funds – the PanSlovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD) also actively espousing reforms of the pension savings and funds systems in the EU

EUROPEAN COMMISSION officially bolstered the position of VZMD stating that its »Banking Communication« is not a legally binding act - the Bank of Slovenia and Slovenian financial authorities insist on the exact opposite and in fighting against their own citizens they disgrace themselves by trying to apologize for scandalous measures and fallacies

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY unanimously responded to the VZMD's rationale and appeal - significant cost reduction for all minority shareholders and investors (approximately 400,000 citizens) with the new amendment to the amending act of the Book Entry Securities Act

THE COALITION'S AMENDMENT to a large extent follows the VZMD proposals to alleviate the catastrophic impact of the amending act of ZNVP-1, however yesterday VZMD sent a constructive opinion and another appeal to the National Assembly to make slight additional efforts in reaching an optimal solution

ANOTHER 260,000 EXPROPRIATED – VZMD has attempted to alleviate the abolishment of registry accounts by amending the Book Entry Securities Act through the COMPROMISE AMENDMENT AND APPEAL to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia

The District Court and the Higher Court officially acknowledge VZMD arguments concerning the unconstitutionality of expropriations, however the proceedings have been suspended until the final decision has been reached by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, which contacted the EU Court in Luxembourg - VZMD has provided written standpoints thereto after a world-class EU law expert joined the team

ATTENTION - unveiling evidence against the unlawfulness of Slovenian banks valuations and the overblown "bank gap" as a foundation for billion euro damage to the state and its citizens, based on unlawful actions by Bank of Slovenia and its Emergency measures decisions

Is the European Commission attempting to obstruct the investigation and protect the responsible persons?! The unprecedented provocation opens plethora of grave issues about processes, structure and perspectives of the EU -

»PLUNDER OF THE CENTURY« - VIDEO CONFRONTATION & disclosure of misleading statements of the Bank of Slovenia, the previous Slovenian government and other protagonists of the highly questionable 2013 bank restructuring, involving mass expropriation of citizens

EU PARLIAMENT & COUNCIL – VZMD contended with the progress & results of harmonization of the Proposed directive for encouraging long-term shareholder engagement, but warns of completely different practices as well as catastrophic repercussions of the Slovenian proposed amendment to the Book Entries Securities Act which is linked to the same Directive

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT - VZMD also lodged a proposal for the temporary decree for PROHIBITING THE SALE OF Nova KBM bank - to prevent direct damage to the Republic of Slovenia and its citizens

BANK OF SLOVENIA – »a year later« with a new secret resolution continues the destructive policy, on the basis of an already stipulated »calculation« of negative capital - the deletion of all subordinated bonds and stocks, also in Slovenia's sixth bank

STRESS TESTS – new and obvious proof of the extremely unequal adjudication of Slovenian banks – are they guilty in Brussels or Ljubljana, and what are their motives? The PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association (VZMD) has called on the Bank of Slovenia (BA) and the European Central Bank (ECB) to explain, why only in Slovenia are we left to use »static« and extremely pessimistic assumptions, while in other countries and banks of the EU fresh data and »dynamic« valuations are used and even allow for

WARSAW - the evening award ceremony, the second day of the »Warsaw Capital Market Summit 2014« international conference and beginning of the conference organized by International Monetary Fund and National Bank of Poland with active participation of VZMD through investo.si and investo.international programs (Warsaw, October 2014)

BANK OF SLOVENIA / NLB - unprecedented deceit of renowned international financial companies and investors - VZMD informed them of concealed facts, in its endeavor of protecting investors, and called for inacting supervision, proper sanctions of those responsible, alleviation of consequences, and thus preservation of the remaining reputation of the Republic of Slovenia (Ljubljana, September 2014)

NEW YORK – VZMD President invited to be a guest-speaker at the Annual Conference of the International Financial Litigation Network (IFLN) yesterday – shortly after a successful business delegation in Iran, he also participated in a discussion in the world's financial centre with some distinguished international lawyers and representatives from key law offices regarding the scandalous expropriation of the owners of shares and bonds at Slovenian banks - an alarming case indicating problems in the (New York, May 2014)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION – a reminder to the EU Commission President J.M. Barroso about the unequal treatment of Slovenia, and about the endangered financial, economic and social stability accompanying scandalous expropriation of share and bond owners at Slovenian Banks – a letter of the Civil Society Initiative and NKBM Section at VZMD to the EU Commission President is soon to be presented in the European Parliament as well (Brussels, March 2014)

EXPROPRIATION – VZMD has filed three more lawsuits, this time against the banks, because the entry of subordinated bonds and shares termination in the register has been established as null – further use of all legal remedies to protect the expropriated owners, the signatories to the VZMD Agreement, and granting authority to the law office (Ljubljana, February 2013)

Slovenian Constitutional Court acknowledges the legal interest of 293 initiators united by VZMD who demanded a constitutional review of the Banking Act (Ljubljana, January 2013)

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT acknowledged the legal interest of 290 initiators, united by VZMD who demanded constitutional review of the Banking Act; the Court has given priority to the two VZMD initiatives but suspension of the Act was rejected, due to misleading statements by the Government and the Bank of Slovenia - shares and subordinated bonds of 100.000 owners had been erased in the three biggest Slovenian banks! (Ljubljana, December 2013)

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO REPORT about the week of the MOSCOW-VIENNA-CAPETOWN conferences involving the following: active participation of the international business-investment VZMD programmes, signing a memorandum with the Russian Federation of Investors, and protection of rights of the Slovene and European shareholders at the Viennese conference »The Financial Repression of Savers and Investors« (Moscow, Vienna, Cape Town, October 2013)

NKBM = BANKIA – mass protests take place in front of The Central Bank of Spain (CBS) because of national fraud against 350,000 shareholders who are represented by the law firm that is attending, along with VZMD (Pan−Slovenian Shareholders’ Association), the international initiative at CBS. (Madrid, September 2013)

WORLD BANK – President of VZMD and EuroFinUse Board Member speaker of the first panel at the international conference about audit reform and the importance of audit committees (Bucharest, June 2013)

VIDEO REPORT – exclusively from the European Parliament: the EuroFinUse international conference and the Election Assembly, the announcement of the new President and Board of directors of this influential European association, into which a representative of Slovenia is also re-elected (Brussels, March 2013)

BRUSSELS – Slovenia with VZMD once more elected to the top of the European Federation of Financial Services Users – intensive international activities today continue with a conference in the European Parliament (Brussels, March 2013)

TOKYO – conclusion of the visit of Slovene economic and political delegation with Slovenian-Japanese Business & Investment Forum and the reception at Japanese investors’ association – the active role of VZMD with its international investors’ programs investo.si and investo.international(Tokyo, March 2013)

INDIA – visit of Slovenian government and business delegation – on the basis of Memorandum between ICPE and VZMD international investors' programs investo.si and investo.international also present (New Delhi, February 2013)

Memorandum of cooperation signed between the International Center for Promotion of Enterprises (ICPE) and VZMD, with additional expansion of activities within the framework of international investment programs investo.si and investo.international (Ljubljana, January, 2013)

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO REPORT of “International Conference on Benefits and Challenges of Public Private Partnerships for improving Energy Efficiency” – key statements of prominent participants (Ljubljana, October, 2012)

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO REPORT from EuropeanIssuers International Conference on »The future of European Equity Markets« at the Milan Stock Exchange – programs investo.si in investo.international also at the upcoming International Investors´ Conference in Wiesbaden (Milano, November 2012)

VIDEO REPORT - International Conference at the Brussels Stock Exchange Stimulated Investors' Representatives and Institutions to Participate at the Investors' Week 2012 in September in Slovenia(Brussels, March 2012)

www.vzmd.si – More on the VZMD – PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association

www.vzmd.tv and www.investo.tv – Over 300 videos from VZMD.TV and investo.tv

www.investo.si – More on the investo.si – Invest to Slovenia Program

www.invest-to.net – More on the network of 65 national organizations of shareholders and investors – invest-to.net