Column
Making IPOs more attractive for founders with multiple voting rights shares
The number of companies going public in Germany is low compared with other major industrialized nations. One way of counteracting this is to introduce multiple-voting shares. This would reduce the fear of many company founders of losing...
Efficient capital markets - more ambition needed for EU Listing Act
One thing must be clear to all of us: An efficient capital market is an essential prerequisite for meeting future challenges such as digitization and the fight against climate change. Such a capital market enables the financing of growth,...
Employee shares: Side-effect-free entry drug into the stock market (in German)
According to the key points of the Zukunftsfinanzierungsgesetz presented by the ministries of finance and justice at the end of June, the tax allowance for employee share ownership, for example employee shares, is to rise from the current...
Zukunftsfinanzierungsgesetz: Holistic approach to the capital market (in German)
The key points for the Zukunftsfinanzierungsgesetz presented by Federal Minister of Finance Lindner and Federal Minister of Justice Buschmann provide important impulses. Whether tax-free capital gains or a higher employee capital...
Companies well advanced in the transformation process towards sustainability (in German)
The topic of sustainability with its facets of environment, social issues and corporate governance is increasingly influencing our lives. Companies have to face the growing societal expectations, but also laws and regulations in this area....
#breakthebias - Finances are also women's business (in German)
This year's International Women's Day is themed #breakthebias. When it comes to finances, it is also time to overcome outdated clichés. Finances are not a man's business, quite the opposite: women should go about it with self-confidence and...
EU Listing Act: Breakthrough for European Capital Markets? (in German)
With the Capital Markets Union, the European Commission wants to improve the economy's access to capital. The EU Listing Act, which is currently being consulted by the European Commission, is intended to help the project achieve a...
Germans stay the course when it comes to investing in equities (in German)
2021 was a good year for the equity culture in Germany. Almost 12.1 million equity savers were invested in shares or equity-based funds last year. Around every sixth person is thus involved in the stock market. Confidence in shares is...
What 2022 will bring for the capital market and the equity culture (in German)
Inflation, a new government and ambitious political projects: 2022 could bring many surprises. What does the new year hold in store for the capital market and equitiy culture?
Please find the German column here.
The new coalition is ready to go (in German)
The new federal government took office today. In order to achieve the goals it has set for itself, it has to get started right away, because the renewal of the state or Germany's climate neutrality are already mammoth tasks. Birgit...
Stop the sweet poison! (in German)
5,400,000,000 and 0. These two numbers are emblematic of the fiscal and monetary policy packages that the countries of Europe and the European Central Bank have put together to ward off the various crises of recent years. But the bailout on...
Modernisation of the General Assembly needed (in German)
Corona has made us realise that the Annual General Meeting needs to be modernised. This is not just a matter of anchoring the virtual General Meeting in the Stock Corporation Act as an equivalent alternative to the General Meeting with...
Strengthening Germany as a financing location (in German)
Why do vaccine manufacturers like BioNTech or CureVac go public in the USA and not in Germany? Why is this questionable for the economy as a whole and what should politics do for the financing of growth companies? We have investigated these...
Cautious sustainable corporate governance needed (in German)
The EU Commission plans that companies should pay more attention than ever to their environment and stakeholders in the interest of sustainability. A new federal government must urgently push for more common sense in this discussion.
Wozu...
No successful BaFin reform without a reform of its financing! (in German)
As a result of the Wirecard case, a reform of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) is on the agenda. The Balance sheet control is to be reorganized and transferred from the German Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel. The...
Combating financial illiteracy in Germany (in German)
Financial literacy is an important part of general education. Nevertheless, economics remains a neglected subject in many schools. A call for better financial education in Germany.
„Ich bin fast 18 und hab‘ keine Ahnung von Steuern, Miete...
Fair taxation of shares (in German)
With regard to investing in equities, tax policy has been sending out the wrong signals for years. The flat rate tax and the repeatedly discussed financial transaction tax reduce the attractiveness of long-term equity investments. With...
More IPOs made in Germany (in German)
Internationally, IPOs in Germany are rare. Many young, German growth companies in particular have recently found their fortune on the American stock exchanges in their search for capital. Why is this the case and what must policymakers do...
Lex Wirecard (in German)
Almost exactly one year to the day after Wirecard's bankruptcy, the "Gesetz zur Stärkung der FInanzmarktintegrität" (FISG) comes into force, with which the legislator wants to prevent cases like Wirecard in the future. The legislator...
Sustainable Corporate Finance - Quo vadis? (in German)
Sustainable financing instruments are booming. However, many bureaucratic hurdles still stand in the way of those responsible for finance in companies. Policymakers must act and make ESG regulation more practical.
Egal, ob Porsche...
SPACs - Come to stay? (in German)
In February 2021, it was said: SPACs have landed in Europe. After less than four months, some are already talking about the SPAC hype being over again. Are the shell companies now a fashion phenomenon, or are they a serious financing and...
The Annual General Meeting of the future is (also) virtual (in German)
For 150 years, shareholders and management met physically at face-to-face AGMs. Then Corona appeared, and the virtual AGM replaced the face-to-face meeting overnight. The discussion about the greater use of digital opportunities has made...
Stocks are not buns
In a YouTube interview shortly before Easter, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz reacted in an unusually emotional way to a critical question about the financial transaction tax. He said that the criticism of the share tax was pretextual because...
Wirecard legislation: two-tier balance sheet control must remain (in German)
A new law is intended to restore confidence in Germany as a financial centre following the Wirecard scandal. In the Finance Committee of the Bundestag, our colleague, Dr Gerrit Fey, represented the position of capital market-oriented...
Stocks conquer the pockets of young shareholders (in German)
Our latest shareholder figures show: In 2020, more than 12 million people owned shares, equity-based funds or ETFs. That is an increase of almost 3 million people. Younger people have also invested courageously in the stock market. Is 2020...
HV conference wrap-up: "Controlled experimentation" (in German)
Hardly any other topic is currently stirring up more emotions among the stakeholders of the capital market than the question of how to proceed with the annual general meeting in the future. Our conference "Annual General Meeting Today and...