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Finance Watch

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Finance Watch

Finance Watch is an independent non-profit association dedicated to reforming finance in the interest of citizens. Visit our website at www.finance-watch.org

Finance Watch develops a public interest vision for financial reform and interacts with policymakers to bring about change. Finance Watch’s members include consumer groups, housing associations, trade unions, NGOs, financial experts, academics and other civil society groups that collectively represent a large number of European residents. All Finance Watch members must be independent from the fina

ncial industry and its lobby: https://www.finance-watch.org/about/members/

>> Get involved: There are many ways to support Finance Watch’s work, ranging from having simple talks with your friends about finance, subscribing to our newsletter, making a donation, following the social media channels, mobilising around our campaigns or becoming a member. Your support is crucial. Our financial independence allows us to work and speak freely. When you support Finance Watch, you are part of the pushback against the powerful financial lobby. Thank you!

>> Make a donation: https://www.finance-watch.org/make-a-donation
>> Sign up to our newsletter: https://www.finance-watch.org/newsletter/

03/06/2026

100+ members. 20+ European countries. One shared goal: making finance serve society.

Finance Watch is a membership-based organisation, bringing together civil society actors and independent experts across Europe to help ensure the public interest has a voice in the financial debates that shape people’s lives.

📑 Our 2025 Annual Report reflects both the work we do and the network that makes it possible.

🔗 Discover the full report 👉 https://www.finance-watch.org/blog/finance-watch-publishes-its-annual-report-2025/

29/05/2026

Trust in the digital euro depends on clear information around its design. That’s why public debate around it matters.

Privacy and personal data protection are key to discussions about the future of digital payments in Europe. According to current proposals from EU policymakers and the European Central Bank, the digital euro is being developed with strong safeguards in mind.

Online transactions would be processed by banks and authorised providers to prevent fraud and keep payments secure, much like the digital payment systems widely in use today.

For offline payments, privacy levels would be closer to cash, with providers only seeing what’s needed to load or withdraw funds, not individual transaction details.

Cash would remain available, and the digital euro isn’t intended to replace existing services. It would simply add a public digital payment option alongside them.

🔗 Learn more in our latest article: https://www.finance-watch.org/blog/the-digital-euro-for-everyone-what-it-changes-and-what-it-doesnt/

28/05/2026

Gen Zifying the digital euro wasn’t on our bingo card but here we are. 🫡 🩵

The digital euro could let people across the eurozone pay electronically with greater control, broad accessibility, and less reliance on private providers – while complementing cash, not replacing it.

It would be:
🤝 Available to everyone
🏦 Built as public infrastructure (with no hidden fees)
📱 Designed to protect privacy in everyday payments

Most importantly, it’s a digital payment option designed with peace of mind!

Learn more about what the digital euro could change (or not) 👉 https://bit.ly/49Uj7Fs

26/05/2026

📅 10 June, Brussels: Join the conversation shaping the future of financial regulation

To mark its 15th anniversary, Finance Watch is thrilled to invite you to a high-level conference: a rare occasion to hear from those making the EU’s financial rules!

In a world of growing geopolitical risk and economic unpredictability, how can the EU ensure its financial system supports European long-term objectives?

Exploring how financial regulation can serve as the cornerstone of European strategic autonomy, the conference will feature a mix of top policymakers and experts:

🔹 Maria Luís Albuquerque, European Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union (Fireside Chat)
🔹 Verena Ross, Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (Panel)
🔹 Géraldine Thiry, Director at the National Bank of Belgium (Keynote)
🔹 Jonás Fernández, Member of the European Parliament and S&D ECON Committee Coordinator (Panel)
🔹 Isabelle Buscke, Secretary General of Finance Watch

📅 Date: 10 June 2026
🕔 Time: 17:00 - 19:00 (followed by a networking reception)
📍 Location: Auditorium of the National Bank of Belgium, Brussels (in-person only)

Programme and registration 👇
https://www.finance-watch.org/event/conference-2026/

21/05/2026

Tapping to pay for groceries, sending money by phone or shopping online are routine for most across Europe.

Today, though, bank fees, limited access to services, unreliable internet connections or situations where cash isn’t accepted can stand in the way of something as basic as paying.

The digital euro is designed to change that. As an alternative payment option intended to work alongside cash and existing private services, not replace them, it could make digital payments more accessible.

🔹 Free basic services
🔹 Easy access through a card, app or digital wallet
🔹 Offline functionality
🔹 Designed for everyday use

🔗 Read more in our latest article: https://www.finance-watch.org/blog/the-digital-euro-for-everyone-what-it-changes-and-what-it-doesnt/

19/05/2026

Private credit has exploded in size 💥

But it’s done so without the same rules, transparency, or safety buffers that banks have. And though private credit sits outside traditional banking rules, it’s still deeply connected to banks, pension funds, and investment markets through complex funding chains.

Private credit activity has grown rapidly, to an estimated $2 trillion in assets at end-2024. Like securitisations before 2008, this is now a significant part of the financial system where risk is opaque and densely connected with systemically important institutions. In other words, stress in private credit could very well threaten the stability of the entire financial system.

Policymakers should close the blind spots now and:
🚨Make private funds disclose risks
🏦 Make sure banks and supervisors can see the full chain of exposure
🏢Put non-bank finance inside a real prudential framework

Read more in our report 👉 https://bit.ly/4wtJXhk

11/05/2026

Conference: Financial regulation as a cornerstone of European strategic autonomy 🇪🇺🏦

In a world of growing geopolitical risk and economic unpredictability, how can the EU ensure its financial system supports European long-term objectives?

To mark its 15th anniversary, Finance Watch brings together leading policymakers and civil society experts to explore the role of financial regulation in strengthening Europe’s resilience and autonomy.

The conference in brief:
🎤 An opening address by Isabelle Buscke, new Secretary General of Finance Watch
💡 A keynote speech by Géraldine Thiry, Director at the National Bank of Belgium
⚖️ High-level panel discussions on financial regulation and strategic autonomy
🔥 A fireside chat with Maria Luís Albuquerque, European Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union
🤝 A networking reception
📆 Date: 10 June 2026
🕔Time: 17:00 – 20:00 (Registration from 16:00)
📍 Location: National Bank of Belgium, Brussels

Book your seat now to join the Finance Watch conference and hear from those shaping the EU financial system.

Programme and registration 👇

https://www.finance-watch.org/event/conference-2026/

07/05/2026

In 2026, financial stability means looking at the whole system, not just the banks. 👀

It used to be simple: banks take deposits and lend to households and businesses. But today, much of the finance consists of a dense web of non-bank financial institutions (or NBFIs). These include pension funds, money market funds, investment funds and private credit providers, which are constantly lending to each other and to banks.

Assets circulate through this system supporting short-term funding. But this means that when confidence falters, stress also spreads rapidly across the system, which can affect banks, lending and your deposits.

That’s why we need:
🏦 Stronger and more centralised EU-level supervision of NBFIs
🔍 Enhanced macroprudential tools for systemically important NBFIs
🌡️ System-wide stress tests to locate risk

Today, non-banks manage over half of global financial assets, yet regulation still focuses mainly on banks. If risk has moved, regulation needs to move with it!

Read our new report 👉 https://bit.ly/48Mkaa4

01/05/2026

This , protecting workers starts with *preventing* financial crises, not just responding to them.

The global financial crisis of 2008 had a profound impact on the global economy. The crisis led to a severe economic downturn, with millions of people losing their jobs. Nearly 8.7 million jobs disappeared just in the US. In Europe, the impact was more prolonged. The financial crisis fed into the Eurozone crisis, with unemployment peaking in the EU at a staggering 11% in 2013. Europe has since faced a decade of austerity, stagnant real terms wage growth and increasingly precarious employment.

The crisis was a direct result of policy decisions that allowed risks to build up unchecked. To ensure that financial regulation is the first line of defence for workers, Finance Watch is calling for safeguards like higher capital requirements and limits on excessive risk-taking.

30/04/2026

Have you ever stopped to think about how the money you use every day actually works?

Most electronic payments today actually rely on private money. With key votes on the coming up in the European Parliament, a public alternative could make digital payments more inclusive for everyone.

👉 Head to the comments to learn more about what this could mean in practice for people in the EU.

Adres

Brussels

Openingstijden

Maandag	09:00 - 18:00
Dinsdag	09:00 - 18:00
Woensdag	09:00 - 18:00
Donderdag	09:00 - 18:00
Vrijdag	09:00 - 18:00

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