Better Finance (short name for the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users) is the public interest non-governmental organisation advocating and defending the interests of European citizens as financial services users at European level to lawmakers and the public in order to promote research, information and training on investments, savings and personal finances. It is the one and only European-level organisation solely dedicated to the representation of individual investors, savers and other financial services users.
Better Finance membership has developed since its creation in 2009, and counts today about 50 independent, national and international member and sub-member organisations with a similar purpose from the European Union Member States as well as Iceland, Norway, Russia, Turkey, Lebanon and Cameroon.
Better Finance believes that the financial system exists to serve the real economy and citizens by ensuring the optimal allocation of capital and providing other financial services in the most efficient way. In order to restore trust in financial services, the current dominance of financial institutions over the real economy must be curbed and the primacy of a sustainable real economy promoted.
History:
At the initiative of Euroshareholders and FAIDER, the French Association for Independent Pension Savers, the European Federation of Investors was created in 2009, under the name of EuroInvestors.
In 2012, their organisation changed its name from EuroInvestors to EuroFinuse - the European Federation of Financial Services Users, to better reflect their enlarged scope and membership.
Today, Better Finance is a public interest international organization, partly supported by the European Commission, acting as an independent financial expertise centre to the direct benefit of all European financial services users to promote training, research and information on Investment, Savings and Personal Finance.
Better Finance represents more than fifty national and international member and sub-member organisations across all EU Member States including Russia, Lebanon and Turkey, which in turn have about 4.5 million European citizens as members.
Their members are European financial services user organisations who are themselves representatives of financial services users in their respective countries. This ensures the proper governance, independence and prevention of conflicts of interest.
They acknowledge that there are many other financial services users than investors only and that several of their member organisations are primarily involved with financial services users other than "investor".
Nevertheless, the objectives and activities of Better Finance have not changed as they continue to represent and defend financial services user rights vis–à–vis the European authorities with the aim to restore trust and confidence in the European financial services market
