Conference held today prior to the forthcoming Investment Services Directive

Contact person:

Henrik Bjerre-Nielsen, Director General, tel. +45 33 55 83 13

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority and the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs held a conference in Copenhagen today regarding investment services in connection with securities. The current Directive will be ten years old next year and the Commission expects to submit a proposed Directive in November.
This was a closed conference and those invited were national supervisory authorities, central banks, and European and national organisations. Candidate countries were also invited.

The conference was opened by the Minister for Economic and Business Affairs, Bendt Bendtsen, who talked about a financial action plan. He emphasised that an important precondition for an effective and credible securities market is that enterprises can attract capital without unnecessary costs. He highlighted that the EU rules must be effective, but they must not dictate a specific market structure.

Director General, Alexander Schaub from DG Market described the Commission's most recent plans for the financial sector, and he presented a status report on the Investment Services Directive, which is soon to be submitted.

The Chairman of the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR), Mr. Arthur W. H. Doctors van Leeuwen, talked about the role of the supervisory authorities throughout the process.

The two main themes at the conference, which will also be important for the Directive itself, were discussed in two panel debates.

One panel focussed on how transparency regarding supply and demand in the securities market can be ensured. There must be a high degree of transparency so that investors can always have a clear picture of the prices at which they can trade securities. This increases the liquidity of the market.

The second panel discussed how best to ensure protection of investors. It is vital that investors have confidence that they are being treated correctly when they trade in securities. The greater the confidence, the more they will invest. Recently, this topic has attracted a lot of attention in Denmark, as well as in the rest of Europe.

Different European organisations, stock markets, and supervisory authorities were represented in both panels.

Oprettet d. 24.07.2003 og sidst redigeret d. 13.11.2003

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